Manchester United manager David Moyes is interviewed during the Premier League season launch. Photograph: Jan Kruger/Getty ImagesDavid Moyes has said it is "hard to believe" that Manchester United's opening Premier League fixtures had come out by chance and described it as the club's toughest start for 20 years.
Moyes's first league game as United manager comes at Swansea City on Saturday evening, and is followed by a home game against Chelsea before away trips to Liverpool and Manchester City, either side of a visit to Old Trafford from the newly-promoted Crystal Palace.
An aggrieved Moyes questioned such a run of fixtures and in quotes reported by the BBC, he said: "I think it's the hardest start for 20 years that Manchester United have had. I hope it's not because Manchester United won the league quite comfortably last year [that] the fixtures have been made much more difficult. I find it hard to believe that's the way the balls came out of the bag, that's for sure."
In contrast, Manchester City face the newly-promoted pair Cardiff City and Hull City as well as Stoke City in their first five games while Chelsea also meet Hull plus last year's strugglers Aston Villa.
A Premier League spokesman said: "David has put those concerns to us. We have absolutely assured him the process is random and above board. He has accepted those assurances."
