Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick has hit back at suggestions his side have been handed an easy start to the Premier League season, branding the idea "ridiculous". The claim stems from United's opening fixtures against two newly promoted sides, which some believe should allow Carrick's team to extend the strong form that secured a third-place finish last season and led to his permanent appointment.

United begin the campaign away at Championship play-off winners Hull City on Saturday, before hosting fellow promoted club Ipswich Town in their first home game at Old Trafford on 30 August. Carrick, who won 12 of his 15 matches in interim charge last term, said he knows from experience that away trips to newly promoted teams are difficult, insisting there is nothing favourable about the fixtures and dismissing the assumption as an easy but inaccurate narrative.