(Football news) Notwithstanding their horrendous collapse, the Red Devils can still look forward to an FA Cup final against Manchester City, while their opponents’ hopes of making it out of the top tier are now virtually nonexistent.
A large portion of Manchester United’s players were ashamed to rejoice on reaching their second FA Cup final in as many years, and for good reason—Coventry nearly pulled off one of the most astounding comebacks the competition’s history has ever seen, channeling their 2005 Liverpool.
Leading 3-0 heading into the final 20 minutes, Erik ten Hag’s men nearly threw it all away as their Championship counterparts unbelievably forced extra time, where Victor Torp thought he had etched his name into Sky Blues folklore with a last-gasp winning goal in front of the bewildered Red Devils faithful.
However, Coventry’s delirium was cruelly cut short by a tight offside call, and Ten Hag’s men managed to hold their nerve from the penalty spot to set up a repeat of last year’s final with Manchester City, but Man United were chastised as if they had lost the semi-final.
Now without a 90-minute win in six matches, Ten Hag’s jaded troops also have several Premier League wrongs to right on Wednesday, having gone without a single victory in their last four matches to all but kill off their Champions League hopes, lying seventh in the table and 16 points off the top four with 18 left to play for.
A far cry from the defensive powerhouses during Ten Hag’s debut campaign, Man United enter the midweek battle having shipped an alarming 11 goals in their last four games – not to mention their incessant concession of shots to the opposition – but their upcoming visitors are hardly renowned for their rearguard excellence either.
An undesired Premier League first was achieved by Sheffield United during the weekend’s bottom-of-the-table battle with Burnley at Bramall Lane, where victory was seen as imperative if Chris Wilder’s side were to spark a miraculous escape from the Premier League’s drop zone.
Burnley had only acquired four more points than Sheffield United throughout the entire campaign, but they appropriately hit the Blades for four in Sheffield, where Lorenz Assignon, Lyle Foster, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Jacob Bruun Larsen contributed to the rout that saw Wilder’s men become the first Premier League team to let in 50 goals at home in a single season.
Gustavo Hamer’s fine finish briefly gave Sheffield United hope, but the Clarets quickly extinguished it to leave their hosts on the brink of a swift return to second-tier football; the Blades are now 10 points adrift of safety with just five games left on the calendar.
In addition, Wilder’s team has home games against Tottenham Hotspur and away games against Newcastle United. However, by the time they play the latter in the last gameweek, they may already have been eliminated from the standings. As it stands, the worst team has lost their last nine games.
The one bright spot for Sheffield United supporters is that the team won spectacularly 2-1 at the Theatre of Dreams in January 2021. Although the Red Devils won by the same score at Bramall Lane earlier in the season, it was far from convincing.
Also read: Liverpool will play Everton in the English Premier League
