Horror stats behind Man Utd’s season revealed after FA Cup exit including unwanted parallel from 111 YEARS ago

MANCHESTER UNITED’s season goes from bad to worse with the club set to play their fewest games in a campaign for over a century.

After defeat to Brighton in the FA Cup third round on Sunday it is almost certain that the Red Devils will go without a trophy for second year in a row.

The only vague hope left is the Premier League, where they sit seventh and trail leaders Arsenal by 17 points with 17 games to go.

Even including that as a minor chance is a fanciful stretch as caretaker boss Darren Fletcher tries to reverse the club’s fortunes.

United could at least still get back into the Champions League with the gap to Liverpool in fourth only three points.

Brentford, fifth, are just one ahead in an increasingly tight Prem table, and that is likely to be enough to get back into the UCL.

However, there is NO chance of domestic cup success following the embarrassing Carabao Cup second round exit to Grimsby in August.

Now, they have been dumped out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle after Danny Welbeck came back to haunt Old Trafford yet again.

The wider numbers behind United’s season are harrowing.

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Not since 1906-07 have they played as few games as the 40 they will hit in 2025-26.

The unwanted figure is the lowest total they could have reached at the start of the season after failing to qualify for any European competition due to a 15th place league finish last term.

United have only ever played less than 40 matches in a season on three occasions since 1904-05, and all of them were pre-World War I.

In 1909-10, and then consecutively in 1913-14 and 1914-15, they only reached 39.

But that was due to only having one cup competition (the FA Cup) to enter.

This makes it the first time in history that United have been in two domestic cups and lost in the first round of both without a European competition to fall back on.

If that isn’t bad enough then it’s the visit of Manchester City next.

Pep Guardiola’s side visit Old Trafford on Saturday before United travel to Arsenal one week later.

Fletcher is currently unsure if he will be in charge for either of these games with the club talking to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick over becoming a permanent interim until the end of the season.

Whoever is in the dugout, they face a serious challenge to turn things around from the mess left by the now-sacked Ruben Amorim.

United have one win in their last seven games in all competitions (but only two losses).

This includes draws with the PL bottom two and Leeds (now 16th).

The bleak outlook continues back to the start of December.

Since then United have two wins from nine and it stretches out to three victories in 13.

It’s a case of gory, gory Man United.

Maybe the only thing worse than these facts is actually watching them play.