West Ham United will be kept waiting before they kick off their Premier League campaign, with their televised clash with Manchester United taking place on Sunday (kick-off 4pm).

Slaven Bilic’s side will be keen to improve on last season, but a trip to Old Trafford to face a title contending United side will be a tough opening day assignment for The Hammers.

West Ham could give debuts to new signings Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Marko Arnautovic and former United striker Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez – the latter who arrived in a £16 million deal from Bayer Leverkusen.

The Hammers’ pre-season campaign was mixed at best, though very little can, or indeed should be, drawn from a series of preparation games designed for tactics purposes and to test out fitness more than anything else.

Their solitary victory came in a 2-1 win against Championship side Fulham – a campaign punctuated with draws against Sturm Graz II (0-0), Werder Bremen (2-2) and German lower league outfit Altona 93 (3-3), and defeats against Werden Bremen (1-0) and against Manchester City (3-0) That said, West Ham will hope to better an 11th placed finish last term and a key area of improvement will be at home as they go in search of making the London Stadium a fortress in year two.

United, by contrast, will be desperate to land a first Premier League title since 2013, with manager Jose Mourinho not holding back in the transfer market as he seeks to mould his expensively assembled squad into title winners.

The big money arrivals of Romelu Lukaku, Victor Lindelof and Nemanja Matic certainly represent the necessary statement of intent, though United have tried and failed, often at great expense, to find a winning formula since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

West Ham will go in search of their first win at Old Trafford since May 2007, when a Carlos Tevez strike gave Alan Curbishley’s side victory and preserved their Premier League status.