Key events and fixture dates
Group Stage
Match day one: 17-18 September
Match day two: 1-2 October
Match day three: 22-23 October
Match day four: 5-6 November
Match day five: 26-27 November
Match day six: 10-11 December
21 Sept PL: City v Watford
22 Sept PL: Chelsea v Liverpool
5 Oct PL: Liverpool v Leicester
5 Oct PL: City v Wolves (29 Sept PL: Everton v City)
26 Oct PL: City v Villa (20 Oct PL: Palace v City)
27 Oct PL: Liverpool v Spurs
9 Nov PL: Liverpool v City
30 Nov PL: Newcastle v City (23 Nov PL: City v Chelsea)
30 Nov PL: Liverpool v Brighton
14 Dec PL: Arsenal v City (7 Dec PL: City v Utd)
14 Dec PL: Liverpool v Watford
Looking at the lay of the group stage fixtures, City have some tricky games to navigate before and after their travels.
Those Donetsk & Zagreb journeys would be great if they fell between their Arsenal/Utd & Wolves/Everton games!
Matchday one:
TUE 17 Sept: Napoli v Liverpool
WED 18 Sept: Shakhtar v City
Matchday 2:
TUE 1 Oct: City v D.Zagreb
WED 2 Oct: Liverpool v Salzburg
Matchday 3:
TUE 22 Oct: City v Atalanta
WED 23 Oct: Genk v Liverpool
Matchday 4:
TUE 5 Nov: Liverpool v Genk
WED 6 Nov: Atalanta v City
Matcday 5:
TUE 26 Nov: City v Shakhtar
WED 27 Nov: Liverpool v Napoli
Matchday 6:
TUE 10 Dec: Salzburg v Liverpool
WED 11 Dec: D.Zagreb v City
Pity that Ukraine trip is on Matchday one for City because they play bottom placed and pointless Watford afterwards. The Zagreb trip is in their last game when in theory they should already be qualified to the next stage, if not then it could become tricky because they play v UTD before and @Arsenal after.
The only tricky looking fixture at the moment looks like their shortest away travel to Bergamo to play Atalanta because they play @us afterwards. Atlanta have kept pretty much their better players from last season and added a few including Ex-Liverpool player Martin Skrtel.