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The season for MANCHESTER UNITED continues to decline, with the club on track to play their fewest matches in a campaign for over a century.
It is nearly certain that the Red Devils will finish the season without a trophy for the second consecutive year.
Manchester United will play their fewest matches in a season since 1906-07Credit: PA
They were eliminated from the FA Cup in the third round, their first match in the competitionCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
The only glimmer of hope remains in the Premier League, where they currently sit seventh, trailing leaders Arsenal by 17 points with 17 matches remaining.
Even considering this as a minor possibility seems overly optimistic as the caretaker manager attempts to turn the club's fortunes around.
They could still qualify for the Champions League, with just a three-point gap to Liverpool in fourth place.
Brentford, in fifth, are only one point ahead in an increasingly competitive Premier League table, which may be sufficient for a return to the UCL.
However, there is NO prospect of domestic cup success following their embarrassing exit from the Carabao Cup in the second round against Grimsby in August.
Now, they have also been eliminated from the FA Cup at the first hurdle.
The statistics surrounding United's season are alarming.
This is on track to be a record-breaking (in a negative way) season
Not since 1906-07 have they played as few as the 40 matches they will reach in 2025-26.
This undesirable figure represents the lowest total they could have achieved at the season's outset after failing to qualify for any European competition due to a 15th place finish in the league last term.
United have only played fewer than 40 matches in a season on three occasions since 1904-05, all of which occurred prior to World War I.
In 1909-10, as well as in 1913-14 and 1914-15, they only managed to play 39 matches.
However, that was due to participating in only one cup competition (the FA Cup).
This is the first time in history that United have entered two domestic cups and been eliminated in the first round of both without a European competition to rely on.
If this wasn’t dire enough, they now face a match against Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola’s squad will visit Old Trafford on Saturday, followed by United's trip to Arsenal one week later.
Things don’t get any easier in the coming weeks
The club is in discussions regarding a permanent interim manager until the end of the season.
Regardless of who is in charge, they face a significant challenge to resolve the issues left by the previous management.
United have secured only one win in their last seven matches across all competitions (with just two losses).
This includes draws against the bottom two teams in the Premier League and Leeds, who are now in 16th place.
The grim outlook extends back to early December.
Since then, United have achieved only two wins in nine matches, amounting to three victories in 13 games.
It’s a case of gory, gory Man United.
Perhaps the only thing worse than these statistics is actually watching them play.
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MANCHESTER UNITED was eliminated from the FA Cup third round for the first time since 2014 after a disappointing 2-1 loss to Brighton.
This marks the earliest exit for United from both cup competitions since 1982 and confirms their second consecutive trophyless season.
United started strongly but were caught off guard when Brajan Gruda scored from
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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