Manchester United have equalled an unwanted club Premier League record in the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground this evening.
Ruben Amorim's side were beaten by an early Anthony Elanga goal, with the Swede coming back to haunt his former employers with a sensational solo goal inside five minutes.
The Red Devils dominated possession, but created precious little in terms of clear-cut chances, until the dying embers, when Harry Maguire spurned two golden chances in injury time.
Maguire's first opportunity saw him skew a header off target from close range, before he was unfortunate to see Murillo keep out his goalbound effort on the line with what turned out to be the last kick of the game.
The unwanted statistics continue to pile up for Man United though, who could find themselves down in 15th by the time they are next in action - against Manchester City in the derby on Sunday.
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Toothless United emulate unwanted feat
Racking up 24 attempts tonight, that is the highest figure Man United have registered in an away Premier League game without scoring since records began back in 2003-04.
An xG of 1.66 from those 24 shots suggests that even though the majority of their efforts were half-chance at best, a more clinical outfit could have potentially got a result tonight.
Misfiring in attack is nothing new for this United side though, and that is a big reason behind why after 30 matches, they are still yet to win consecutive matches this season.
With just 37 points from those 30 games, Forest are now 20 points ahead of United, after finishing last season 28 points below them, illustrating clearly the drastic change in fortunes for both clubs.
United are still 13th for the time being, but they remain seven points adrift of the top half, with many of those sides still yet to play this midweek, and Opta now give the Red Devils just a 4.3% chance of finishing the season in the top 10.
The international break came at the worst possible time for Amorim, as he would have hoped to carry on the momentum from the 4-1 and 3-0 wins over Real Sociedad and Leicester City, respectively, but that has all been eradicated by tonight's disappointing result.
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Defensive fragility also cause for concern
The one potential saving grace this season could be winning the Europa League, and United will face Lyon over two legs in the quarter-finals which get underway next week, but usually only teams with solid defensive foundations win cup competitions, and that cannot be said about them at present.
Elanga's goal tonight was the 23rd time this season that Man United have conceded the first goal in a game, with relegation-favourites Leicester the only Premier League side to have done so more often.
The defeat has seen United suffer home and away defeats to Forest in the same Premier League season for the first time, placing greater pressure on the Manchester derby, especially if Tottenham Hotspur and Everton are able to leapfrog them in the meantime.
Andrew Delaney
