It has been a long two weeks since the crushing Manchester Derby defeat, but club football is finally back and United eventually have an opportunity to respond against newly-promoted Watford at Vicarage Road later on. Despite the majority of fans adamant that the end was nigh for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a fortnight ago, the Norwegian remains at the post.
United have been poor, in fact pitiful, for some time now. In all competitions, the reds have won only four times in 12 matches; in that spell of matches, a staggering six matches have been lost. Looking at the past six matches in the league, there has been a solitary win and a single draw amidst four defeats - six goals have been scored compared to a hefty 13 conceded. Norwich are bottom of the league table, yet have picked up a point more than United over their last six matches in the competition (conceding two less goals too). This is relegation form.
The four losses over six games for United is the same amount sustained over the 40 league matches prior, with the reds at risk of losing five of their opening 12 games for the first time since 1989 (when they finished 13th). In all competitions, Solskjaer's side have managed a mere two clean sheets over 24 matches.
Although United are 6th in the league table, their five points behind a Champions League spot is the same margin to 14th place Brentford. Having only played 11 matches, United are as close to Burnley in 18th as they are to leaders Chelsea.
Watford could become the fourth consecutive newly-promoted side to hold United to a draw, with the reds only picking up a single point against each of West Brom, Leeds and Fulham in the return fixtures last season.
Many tipped the Hornets to be relegated this season, though they find themselves on the brink of the relegation zone as opposed to inside the bottom three. Watford's campaign was opened with an impressive win at home to Aston Villa, though they lost their subsequent three league matches. Despite a victory against struggling Norwich and a draw against Newcastle as September commenced, a Carabao Cup exit against Stoke and a league defeat to Leeds saw Xisco Munoz sacked after less than 10 months in charge.
Into the managerial merry-go-round delved Watford again, and it was title winning manager Claudio Ranieri who stepped up to take charge. The former Leicester boss' tenure got off to a horrendous start with a battering against Liverpool, but promise was provided as a 5-2 win was recorded at Goodison the week after. It has again grown rockier since, with one-goal margined defeats to Southampton and Arsenal heading into the international break.
Ranieri has only won twice against United in the Premier League, though the other 12 meetings have been evenly split between draws and United wins. The Italian manager could lose three consecutive home matches for the first time in the Premier League.
Up and down sums up Watford's start to this campaign. They have failed to score in a league-high seven matches this season; interestingly, they have managed to engineer 12 goals over the other four matches. Similar to United, there have been defensive issues too for Watford - they are on a club record run of 21 top flight matches without a clean sheet. Discipline is another overriding problem, with their 154 fouls committed the most of any Premier League side so far this season.
Even though the Hornets were in the Championship last season, they still tasted narrow defeat at the hands of United in the FA Cup Third Round at Old Trafford at the start of 2021. However, United's last trip to Vicarage Road in late 2019 saw a dismal 2-0 defeat for the travelling outfit. Two months on, the reds responded with a 3-0 win against Nigel Pearson's side in the return fixture.
Watford have lost more Premier League matches against United than against any other side, experiencing defeat on 12 occasions. Over all competitions, the Hornets have won only twice in 20 meeting - United won the other 18 encounters.
Solskjaer was upbeat when speaking about availability for this one, “I have got to say this week has been really positive. Of course, there's a couple of doubts with illnesses and small niggles. Paul [Pogba] is out still for a while, Rapha [Varane] is out for a while still. Apart from that, players will be coming back in the near future - some this weekend and some during the week."
The manager detailed that Luke Shaw (after concussion), Scott McTominay (after illness) and Marcus Rashford (after lack of match fitness) have been training. However, there is no timescale on Edinson Cavani's return following what has been described as a tendon issue - it isn't expected to be too lengthy a layoff from here. In terms of Paul Pogba, the injury sustained on international duty could see him sidelined for "six or seven weeks, but the worst-case scenario is 10, 11, 12 weeks".
Watford are certainly without the injured Francisco Sierralta, whilst Juraj Kucka is suspended following a sending off against Arsenal. Ozan Tufan faces a late fitness test, whilst Peter Etebo, Christian Kabasele, Ken Sema and Kwadwo Baah.
The pressure is certainly on for United, with Solskjaer more on the edge than ever.
“The players, the staff, myself, the club, we're all working towards one goal and that is to improve and get better results. The fans are still supporting the team and the club. They've backed the team through the rebuild, of course. You know, when we lose a game, we’re always disappointed and under pressure. We've been communicating well, openly and honestly, as we always do. It's one game now that matters but it’s also what comes after that. We’re all refreshed, this week has been really good in training and we're ready for tomorrow."
“We know the run of form hasn't been good and that performances haven’t been good enough. We know we can do better, we know we should do better and we think we will do better. It's down to performances on the day. [Players are] human beings, sometimes you hit the post and it goes out and sometimes it goes in. That can change the mood, the atmosphere. We just got to focus on getting a good start tomorrow and build on a good start."
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