For the second year in a row, United will kick off their campaign against Manuel Pellegrini’s side, but the Citizens strolled to a 4-0 win in last season’s opening game at the Etihad Stadium.
The fact the Magpies haven’t beaten City since 2005 isn't so much a worry because records are there to be broken.
Many of Pellegrini’s squad are likely to miss much of pre-season after competing in the World Cup.
Alan Pardew: “It replicates the fixture we had last year, though obviously that was away.
“We were unfortunate to lose Steven Taylor in that game, and Yohan Cabaye literally an hour before the fixture, so we had a couple of blows.
“It’s a tough start, there’s no doubt about that.
“We’ve not really stretched Man City in recent years – certainly not since I’ve been here – so it will be nice to get a result against them, and get our season up and running.
“They are obviously champions, and most of their squad is coming back from a World Cup, so that might give us a slight advantage.
“I think the big sides, coming off the World Cup, might struggle to get going.
“There’s a little bit of history of that happening before, and that might be an advantage to us, but we’re certainly looking to be stronger than we were last year – particularly the second half of the season – when we start next season. That’s our focus.
“We know, like all fixture lists, it throws up a couple of months.
“December looks particularly tricky, and I think we need to get a good points tally going into that month because it’s going to be tough for us.
“You look at the fixtures and try to think which ones are going to be very important games, but until you kick off, you can’t really tell.
“If we were to get a result against Manchester City, that start could be really good for us.
“I’m really optimistic about the fixtures – it’s as good as it could be.
“We’ve got Sunderland at home for the first one (derby), and that’s good for us.”