Manchester United drop into relegation zone as Berbatov admits they deserve to be there

Manchester United sit in the Premier League relegation zone for the first time after Nottingham Forest’s 3-1 victory over Manchester City on Saturday leapfrogged them at the wrong end of the table, leaving the club below only Crystal Palace and Sunderland after nine games of the season.

Former United striker Dimitar Berbatov, who won two Premier League titles at Old Trafford between 2008 and 2012, could barely conceal his disbelief at the club’s plight. “I don’t believe it, but the way United are playing sometimes they deserve to be there honestly,” the Bulgarian said, before adding with a measure of cautious optimism: “Tomorrow they still have a game.”

Michael Carrick’s side have won just once in the league all season — a home victory over Ipswich in August — and have not won since. Their form has included a 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth at Old Trafford, compounding a run of results that has piled pressure on the manager heading into Sunday’s home fixture against Aston Villa.

A win against Villa would lift United out of the bottom three, at least temporarily, and there is some historical comfort to draw on: Unai Emery’s side have lost all three of their most recent visits to Old Trafford. Villa arrive, however, in considerably better form than their hosts.

The scale of United’s decline is thrown into sharp relief by their own recent history. Their worst-ever Premier League finish remains 15th place, recorded in the 2024/25 season when Ruben Amorim took over mid-campaign from Erik ten Hag — a season in which they lost 18 of their 38 league games. The current trajectory suggests that record could yet be threatened.