Manchester United's Champions League Sandwich Likely to Have Ferguson in a Rage

Another cloud formed over Sir Alex Ferguson's summer yesterday and, for once, Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo were not to blame. The guilty party was a Premier League fixture list that has complicated Manchester United's task of repeating the double before a ball is kicked. Expect protests when the Scot returns from his taxing holiday in the south of France.

If, as the United manager often states, fixtures between the "Big Four" and post-European exertions decide the destination of the title then Ferguson must have viewed the 2008-09 schedule with conspiratorial eyes. Luiz Felipe Scolari has cause to follow suit once his attention shifts from plotting to win the European Championship for Portugal to delivering the Champions League to Roman Abramovich at Chelsea.

United are involved in the first two meetings between the usual title contenders next season, away at Liverpool on September 13 and at Chelsea the following weekend, with the opening group game in their defence of the Champions League sandwiched in between. The trip to Stamford Bridge on September 20 sets the tone for a series of difficult assignments following Champions League group games for United, with Blackburn, Everton, Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham all in wait following midweek European games. All six matches are away from Old Trafford.

The champions' season is also complicated by their commitments in the European Super Cup and the World Club Championship, forcing games against Fulham on August 30 and Wigan on December 20 to be rearranged, although United do face Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all at home in the second half of the campaign.

Arsenal have their own travel problems after Champions League group games next season, providing they qualify, with five of the six fixtures away from the Emirates Stadium. That sequence contains visits to Bolton, Sunderland and Middlesbrough and Arsène Wenger is more likely to be concerned at his side's run-in, with both Chelsea and United to play in the final fortnight.

Chelsea and Liverpool both have four home matches after their Champions League group fixtures, for which Rafael Benítez's team have to qualify, though Scolari may be aggrieved to discover his first encounters with Ferguson, Benítez and Wenger as Chelsea manager all come in the immediate aftermath of European nights.