Manchester United fans will have surely been more than happy to wave goodbye to an embarrassing season which saw them finish in sixth place without a single piece of silverware and some desperately worrying individual performances on display.
This summer will provide the club a chance to recuperate, rebuild and regrow as they look to kickstart their future under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who inherited the role in December 2018 from Jose Mourinho to positive effect before suffering monumentally with just two wins in 12 games.
While United fans will be hoping to carry out their revival in emphatic fashion next year, we believe these two games may prove detrimental…
Manchester United vs Chelsea: Sunday 11 August 2019
Likely not the first game anyone wanted to see on the fixture list, Manchester United face the Europa League champions at Old Trafford on the opening game of the season.
It’s a tough fixture, Chelsea. No matter what position they’re in and how they’re performing, you can pretty much guarantee that they’ll put up a fight against United. In fact, the Reds have only tasted victory four times in 20 matches over the course of seven years (two of which came in the Premier League).
To make matters worse, this could be Frank Lampard’s first Premier League game in charge of Chelsea having been tipped to take over from current boss Maurizio Sarri, who’s expected to return to Italy this summer.
If United continue on their run of form that saw them lose out to relegated Cardiff City on the final day of the season, then it could be another year of Old Trafford resembling a wooden shack rather than the fortress of old.
Leicester City vs Manchester United: Sunday 17 May 2020
The final game of the season is always an important one for any team vying for one of the European spots, even if it is the Europa League.
United will face a battle at the King Power Stadium against Brendan Rodgers Leicester City side. The Foxes narrowly missed out on seventh place this season after a flurry of good results under their new boss – winning five, drawing two and losing two – and should both teams continue on a similar trajectory then will genuinely be nothing to divide them. Mainly because United will be struggling, and Leicester are a fairly decent side at the best of times.
Whether or not it's a 'nightmare game' for United depends entirely on how they're doing at the time, but if it's anything like what we've seen this year then it could well be the decider between Europa League football and absolute dejection.
Manchester United fans, do you agree with our choices? Let us know in the comments below...