Premiership schedule revealed

Promoted Swansea will kick off the campaign at the City of Manchester Stadium on 13 August six years after West Brom were the last opening-day visitors for the Blues.

Trips to Bolton and then Tottenham follow to complete an intriguing August forRoberto Mancini's men.

The first derby will be on 22 October at Old Trafford, with the return fixture having to wait until 28 April - just two games away from the closing match at home to promotedQPR on 13 May.

Boxing Day brings a journey to face West Brom at The Hawthorns, and there's a tasty game to see in the New Year with Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool the visitors on 2 January.

Our FA Cup Final rivals Stoke will have to wait until 21 December to try to exact some revenge for Wembley, but recent bogey team Everton are back here as early as 24 September.

Apart from the home derby, the run-in includes potentially difficult April trips to Norwich, Wolves and Newcastle, the latter game scheduled for FA Cup Final day on 5 May.