(Football news) While Manchester United currently sit seventh in the 36-team table, the Gers are just one point and one place further back in the eighth spot.
Just three Premier League wins in 11 games does not make for good reading if you are Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim, who described his Red Devils side as “maybe the worst” in the club’s 147-year history following last weekend’s humbling 3-1 home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion—a remark he now regrets saying post-match.
Bruno Fernandes’ first-half penalty was Man United’s only shot on target against the Seagulls, while another mistake from goalkeeper Andre Onana—his fourth of the season leading to a goal—allowed Georginio Rutter to score the visitors’ third and condemn Amorim’s men to their fourth home defeat in five matches.
Languishing in 13th place in the Premier League table, Manchester United’s hopes of securing European football for next season seem to be fading every passing week, with 11 points now separating the 20-time English champions from the top seven, while they are 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
Success in the Europa League would salvage something positive from what has been a dismal campaign thus far, and Manchester United are on course to secure an automatic last-16 spot as they currently sit inside the top eight, one point clear of ninth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, with two games remaining—they beat Viktoria Plzen 2-1 away in their most recent match last month.
The Red Devils, one of five teams who are yet to lose in this season’s Europa League, will face FCSB in their final League Phase fixture, but they must first focus on Thursday’s clash with a Rangers outfit whom they have never suffered defeat against in four previous meetings (W3 D1), keeping four clean sheets in the process.
Amorim is not the only manager under pressure to grind out positive results, as Philippe Clement is tasked with turning Rangers’ fortunes around on all fronts after being backed by the club’s hierarchy.
Since enduring a run of just two wins in eight games across all competitions and since CEO Patrick Stewart revealed that “changing a manager isn’t a silver bullet solution,” Rangers have won each of their last three matches under Clement by an aggregate score of 11-1.
After securing maximum points in Scottish Premiership games against St Johnstone (3-1) and Aberdeen, the Gers cruised to an emphatic 5-0 win at home to Highland League outfit Fraserburgh in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup last weekend, with Cyriel Dessers netting a hat-trick.
Rangers may sit 13 points behind Old Firm rivals Celtic in the Scottish Premiership, but they are in a decent position to secure a last-16 spot in the Europa League, currently clinging on to a top-eight position, while they are four points clear of the elimination zone heading into their final two fixtures against Manchester United and Union SG.
The Glaswegian giants, who picked up a point in a 1-1 draw with Spurs in their last Europa League match, travel to Old Trafford on Thursday having won just one of their last eight European away games against English opposition—a 2-1 success over Leeds United in qualifying for the 1992-93 Champions League.
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