Manchester United Sink to 17th After Chelsea Defeat

Manchester United are 17th in the Premier League after a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday. They have taken seven points from nine games, and the question now is how far the slide goes.

Seven points is a poor return by any measure. Using ESPN's figures, that works out at 0.77 points per game, where a point per game would mean a side is on course for a healthy finish. Carry the current rate across a full 38-game season and United would end with fewer than 30 points. Relegation, the drop to the Championship, is decided by points, and the bottom three go down each year.

The BBC asked directly whether United are really destined for a relegation fight. The club's position is still some way from the bottom, but the trend is hard to ignore. United have not been in the relegation zone after nine games or more since November 1986. Their lowest place at this stage of a season since then was 17th, in 1989-90, which is where they sit now.

The results behind the table are just as stark. United have now gone nine games in all competitions without a win, their worst run since 1988-89. Their only Premier League victory this season came at home against Ipswich in August, a comeback win after falling behind. Since then, the goals have dried up at both ends of the pitch.

The Chelsea game also cost them a player. Lisandro Martinez, the centre-back, was sent off at Stamford Bridge and will miss the next match through suspension. A red card means a one-match ban, and United will be without him for the visit of Aston Villa to Old Trafford on 8 November.

Michael Carrick, the manager, kept his answers short after the defeat. "We've got to keep moving forward and winning games, simple as that," he said. It is not a complicated message, and it is the one that matters most right now. A win against Aston Villa would lift United off the bottom half of the table's worry list, at least for a week.

For the neutral, the story is less about one bad afternoon and more about a pattern. Football tables are short snapshots, and nine games is still early. But United are in a place they have rarely visited in this stage of a season for almost forty years, and every result from here will be measured against that. The next home game is the first chance to change the picture.