Manchester United's £65m jackpot to be decided over next few weeks with West Ham ready to steal

While it may not be so apparent now, but Man United’s win over Brighton could in retrospect be one of the key turning points in their season.

The Red Devils won the game 2-0 thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo — his first of the calendar year — and Bruno Fernandes.

It brought United back above West Ham in the fight for the last remaining Champions League place, with two points separating the pair.

It was Ralf Rangnick’s sixth victory since taking charge at the beginning of December, but only the second in the league in 2022.

United had been struggling for goals and victories since the turn of the year, and so the win over Brighton will do much for improving confidence.

But looking ahead, the next five games will be crucial in defining the outcome of the season for United.

The fixture list hasn’t been kind, with games against Leeds, Watford, Man City, Tottenham and Liverpool all on the horizon.

That’s quite a set of games.

And that’s not to mention that those run of games are punctuated by two games against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League which, given they are managed by Diego Simeone, will be a slog over 180 minutes.

West Ham, by contrast, have games against Newcastle, Wolves, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Tottenham coming up.

You don’t need to be top of your class at school to figure out who has the harder schedule.

It must also be noted that The Hammers will be back in action in the Europa League at the beginning of March, but it remains to be seen whether former United boss David Moyes will take the competition seriously at this point, considering West Ham’s chances of cracking the top four.

From those five fixtures, United lost three of them in the opening half of the season, with the defeats to Watford and