Chris Sutton claims that Manchester United can’t be trusted to finish in the top four this season, per BBC Sport.
What’s the word?
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side continue to fight for qualification to the Champions League this season.
They are currently fifth in the Premier League, three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, but they could well qualify for Europe’s premier club competition if they remain in their current position due to Manchester City’s ban from the tournament next season.
Nevertheless, Sutton is not sure that the Red Devils have what it takes to find their way into next season’s Champions League, and they are only five points ahead of 11th-placed Everton.
Asked to rank the clubs fighting for qualification – of which Sutton believes there are eight, including the Toffees, Burnley, Sheffield United and Wolves – he claimed that United simply haven’t shown the right amount of consistency this term.
He said: “The big problem with United so far has been that you cannot trust them.
“They put a couple of wins together and you think they have cracked it, and then they lose to someone where you just did not see it coming.
“That has been their issue all season and it is going to be very interesting how they get on at Goodison Park on Sunday. They have got to prove they can carry this on.”
Get over 80% on this quiz to prove you’re a true Manchester Derby expert…
Spot on
United have been a remarkably inconsistent side this season.
To look at their wins is to see victories over Chelsea, twice, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City, while they are also the only club to take points off Liverpool this season, drawing with them at Old Trafford.
In terms of their losses, Burnley, Watford, AFC Bournemouth, Newcastle United, West Ham United and Crystal Palace have beaten them, while Aston Villa also held them to a draw. Thus, they have failed to beat the entire bottom three, but have taken points off the entire top three.
This is a massive problem.
Between now and the end of the season, United have 11 games to come. They will play Everton, Manchester City, Spurs, Sheffield United, Brighton, Bournemouth, Villa, Southampton, Palace, West Ham and Leicester before the conclusion of the campaign.
That is a sliding scale of clubs from the top and the bottom of the league and history suggests that they are more likely to take points off the former than the latter.
The key to qualifying for Europe, though, in such a congested top-half, is to add some form of consistency.
Fail to do that and the Champions League is surely beyond them.
Meanwhile, one man outshone Bruno Fernandes for Man United in midweek!