Relegation now a realistic worry for Man Utd – the omens look bleak

Ruben Amorim predicted a storm was coming. Surely even he didn’t think it would be quite this bad.

Sunday’s insipid display at Tottenham was another black mark on a season that has already spiralled out of control. It leaves United slumped in 15^th place, 12 points clear of the bottom three with 13 games of a season they can’t wait to finish remaining.

While it has been 12 years since their last triumph, United remain the most successful side of the Premier League era and are one of just six teams to never have been relegated since the competition was launched in 1992. You have to go back 50 years for the last time they were dumped out of the English top flight.

But things are bleaker than ever. The R word was first floated by Ruben Amorim in January following a run of three consecutive defeats to Bournemouth, Wolves and Newcastle United over the festive period. His side responded with a hard-fought draw away to Liverpool before knocking Arsenal out of the FA Cup.

United have collected four points in the league since then, largely outplayed by bottom side Southampton before Amad Diallo came to the rescue. A victory away to Fulham followed, courtesy of a deflected Lisandro Martinez strike.

Two more home defeats to Brighton and Crystal Palace leading up to Sunday’s disaster at Tottenham stamped out any renewed optimism.

There are 12 defeats on the board and even for the most blindly optimistic fan, there will be more to come. 12 losses from their first 25 matches of a league campaign is their most since the 1973/74 season – which ended in them being relegated.

It’s a worrying omen and with no sign of anything resembling a turnaround, talk of relegation will have to be taken seriously if it isn’t already.

A couple of wins would of course ease those concerns and leave United on track for what must be now regarded as a best-case scenario – mid-table obscurity with some deep runs in the FA Cup and Europa League.

But a fresh injury crisis threatens to complicate an already dire situation. Amad Diallo, at the heart of everything good to emerge from this season, will have no further role to play. Lisandro Martinez is also out for the rest of the campaign with Luke Shaw and Mason Mount’s returns still uncertain.

Kobbie Mainoo, enduring a difficult second campaign in the first-team, is expected to be sidelined for six weeks. Eight teenagers were named on the bench on Sunday with just one senior appearance between them ahead of kick-off.

United’s options up top are threadbare and woefully out of form – Joshua Zirkzee, Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho have mustered just one goal between them in 2025. Former United striker Dimitar Berbatov described United’s two strikers as being ‘lost’ in Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation, ‘wasting all their energy’ in the set-up that has not yielded the success it did at Sporting Lisbon for the head coach.

United’s saving grace may be that the sides below them are perhaps close to being cut adrift with a 12-point swing to overturn. Ipswich and Leicester sit on 17 points with Southampton seemingly doomed on nine. West Ham and Wolves make up the bottom six.

Even by this season’s dreadful standards, it would require an almighty capitulation for United to be scrapping for their lives come April and May.

Since the Premier League switched to a 38-game format in 1995, an average of 35.6 points has been needed to beat the drop. Forest survived last season with 32.

On 29 points, United could pull clear with a couple of wins. But on this season’s evidence, plotting where those victories might come is not straight forward.

On Saturday, they head to Goodison Park where David Moyes has hauled Everton from 16^th place – one point above the bottom three – to above United and into the lofty heights of 14^th with four wins in six matches.

Following that, United host Ipswich under the lights at Old Trafford midweek. Another calamitous night at home then and alarm bells will well and truly be ringing.

While their destiny remains firmly in their own hands, the situation needs to be accepted for what it really is.