Manchester United have little margin for error in nine-game Premier League rescue mission

A couple of years ago, Manchester United completed a salvage operation against Leicester. Victory at the King Power Stadium on the final day of the season meant Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side qualified for the Champions League and Brendan Rodgers’ side, who had been 14 points ahead of them with 14 games to go, did not.

Now the scenario is different, and not merely because Leicester are 14 points behind United. The European competition they are focused on now is the Conference League. United may only been four points adrift of Arsenal and one behind Tottenham but they feel outsiders in the top-four race, and not merely because the Gunners have a game in hand.

Their last nine games include Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. Only four of the nine are at Old Trafford. They lack the momentum their immediate rivals have acquired. Since January they have played 10 matches in all competitions and triumphed in just three. They have been held by Watford and Burnley. While their peers are winning, Ralf Rangnick has the highest percentage of draws of any Manchester United manager.

The broader issue goes beyond scorelines. There is little in United’s performances to suggest they are capable of going on the kind of run that, when they have precious little margin for error, would bring a minimum of 20 points and perhaps as many as 24.

Once again, they can rue events earlier in the season. Including those at the King Power Stadium, where a 4-2 defeat was perhaps the first definitive sign Solskjaer’s United were fundamentally broken. It was the first of four chastening setbacks in five weeks, with losses to Liverpool, Manchester City and eventually Watford finally finishing off the Norwegian.

That reunion with Leicester was particularly