A goalless bore draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers did little to lift the mood around Old Trafford before the team’s 16-day break from Premier League action. The result left the Red Devils level on points with Wolves on 35 points, some six points adrift of the Champions League places and only four points above 13th-placed Southampton. As United find themselves closer to the lower reaches of the bottom half than the top four, it begs the question as to where United will realistically finish in May.
A quick glance at the EPL table and the most popular bets shows very few people seem to be wanting to touch United at any odds right now. With 25 games played, United were closer to 11th-placed Burnley than they were to fourth-placed Chelsea. Just 36 goals tells its own story for United fans, who have been forced to watch their bitter rivals Liverpool and Manchester City score almost twice that amount at the top of the table. While defensively United compare favourably with other teams in and around the top four, it’s that lack of firepower which has proved Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s undoing in 2019/20.
The case for a top-half finish in May
It’s very much a wide-open race for a top four finish this season. Up to eight teams will be feeling that they have a shot at the Champions League places after a fortnight’s rest from EPL action. There’s no doubt that Liverpool and Manchester City will be taking the first two spots, but behind them there is a race on for the final two places. Leicester City currently boast a sizeable advantage over the rest of the chasing pack but from Chelsea downwards it’s a free-for-all down to Wolves.
Recently, the Manchester Evening News did a calculation of the fixtures of the teams chasing a top four finish and found that Leicester City had the easiest run-in to May on paper, followed by Wolves and Arsenal. United are just behind those two teams in the list, while the likes of Tottenham and Chelsea have rather more challenging fixtures, with most opponents deemed of a decent level.
This could certainly play into the hands of United, who will be hoping that their attacking issues will be sorted for the run-in. First and foremost, they’ll have new loan signing, Odion Ighalo, fit and firing. The Nigerian, who is a self-confessed boyhood United fan, will surely be desperate to run the extra mile as the spearhead of the Reds’ frontline, at least until Marcus Rashford returns from his stress fracture lay-off. You could even argue that a front pairing of Ighalo and Rashford should be a dangerous combination on paper. With Ighalo’s power and physical presence and Rashford’s raw pace and flair, Premier League defences will certainly know they have been in a game.
Easing the burden on the likes of Rashford, Martial and Greenwood is vital for the remainder of the season. Goals from midfield have been very hard to come by this term, with Daniel James and Scott McTominay the joint-fourth highest scorers with just three to their name. If Ighalo can score four or five goals between now and May, he will surely have done his job and kept Solskjaer’s men in Champions League or Europa League contention.
The case for a bottom half finish in May
Two former Manchester United stars spoke of their fear that their former club could finish in the bottom half of the table earlier in the campaign. Former skipper Paul Ince said that United were showing no signs of improvement under Solskjaer in the autumn and that the Norwegian should be judged on a results basis only. Former striker Louis Saha was also of the opinion that defeats to both Tottenham and Man City in December would have led to a bottom half finish. As it transpired, United would take six points from those two games, but failed to build up a head of steam after these impressive performances, culminating in another dismal defeat at Watford.
Speaking of Watford, United’s most cynical supporters would nod to the fact that the Reds are banking on the aid of a former Watford icon to steady the ship in the coming weeks. Odion Ighalo was banging them in at Vicarage Road before the big money and bright lights of the Chinese Super League came calling. However, despite scoring 33 goals in 82 appearances in a Hornets shirt, there was never a feeling that the 30-year-old had the potential to go on and play for a truly ‘big’ club.
Sure, the prospect of Ighalo partnering Rashford in attack might be mouth-watering for some United fans, but there is still the possibility that Rashford doesn’t kick a ball again in anger this season. Following the announcement of Rashford’s injury, Solskjaer refused to put a timescale on his return, adding that he would give the England international “as long as he needs” to return to full fitness. Back injuries can be awkward beasts. A prognosis is never that easy, because it ultimately depends on how Rashford’s body reacts. Return too early to training and he could face a similar problem.
Prior to a crunch six-pointer at Chelsea, new United captain Harry Maguire has been surprisingly vocal about one of the Reds’ main defensive flaws this term. The former Leicester stopper has admitted that defending set pieces has proved problematic over the course of the campaign. Maguire said in a recent interview with the official United website that while the team itself hasn’t “conceded a lot of chances” to the opposition, they have “been poor from set-plays”. If Ighalo doesn’t reach full fitness fast and Martial and Greenwood feel the pressure in front of goal, United’s defensive frailties in the air could be the difference between a European push and an embarrassing bottom-half finish.
One thing’s for sure, with so much still at stake and so many variables, it can still go either way for Solskjaer and his troops. A positive end to the campaign will surely be a must for the Norwegian to retain his job, given the numerous unemployed managers circling Old Trafford like vultures of late.
