Champions League fixtures give Man City boost they didn't have last season

If Newcastle have the Group of Death in the Champions League this season, what do Manchester City have?

City avoided the likes of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan, with their toughest Group G opponents being RB Leipzig - who have conceded 13 goals in their two visits to the Etihad over the last two seasons.

Red Star Belgrade will likely be more bark than bite, while Young Boys shouldn't pose a threat to the European Champions. The defence is off to the easiest start that City could have dreamed of.

Even the most difficult fixtures in the group come at convenient times - the trip to Leipzig is up second, while the hostile welcome they will get in Belgrade is last. City will expect to be safely qualified well before their trip to Serbia.

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And when the European fixtures are put in the context of the Premier League, there are no 'season-defining weeks that have been present in recent group stages. Like the week where City went to Chelsea, PSG and Liverpool in the space of seven days in 2021.

The opener against Red Star is three days after the difficult trip to West Ham and four days before the visit of Nottingham Forest - a week that shouldn't provide too many issues. The Leipzig away game is in between three trips in succession - to Wolves and then Arsenal - but City will still have four days to prepare for a big clash at the Emirates.

The journey to Young Boys is four days after a potentially-difficult visit of Brighton, and four days before the first Manchester derby. Even then, Bern is a better trip than somewhere further afield in Europe, and Young Boys are not on par with either Brighton or United.

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