Manchester United went into the first international break of the season needing Matheus Cunha's 89th-minute equaliser at Fulham simply to avoid another defeat. A 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage left Michael Carrick's side with five points from their opening five Premier League matches, only one victory and a record that now sits alongside the poorest start United have made since the competition began in 1992.
It is not quite a new low. United also collected five points from their first five games in 2014/15 under Louis van Gaal, making the current total the joint-lowest in the club's Premier League history at this stage. No United side in the Premier League era has had fewer after five matches.
That comparison offers Carrick some encouragement because Van Gaal's team eventually recovered to finish fourth and return to the Champions League. The more uncomfortable detail is how United have reached five points this time: their opening schedule had been rated among the most favourable in the division before the season began, yet they have already dropped points against Hull City, Everton and Fulham.
Five games, one win and another difficult afternoon at Fulham
United's league campaign began with a 2-0 defeat at newly promoted Hull City, a result made more striking by the fact that Hull had not beaten them in a league match for 52 years. Carrick's side responded emphatically by putting five past Ipswich at Old Trafford, but the improvement did not last. A 2-2 draw at Everton was followed by a 1-0 home defeat in the Manchester derby and Sunday's draw with Fulham.
| Match | Result |
|---|---|
| Hull City vs Man Utd | 2-0 |
| Man Utd vs Ipswich Town | 5-2 |
| Everton vs Man Utd | 2-2 |
| Man Utd vs Man City | 0-1 |
| Fulham vs Man Utd | 1-1 |
| Points after five games | 5 |
The Fulham game captured much of what has gone wrong. United managed 29 shots, their second-highest total in a Premier League away match since Opta began recording the statistic in 2003/04, but created an expected-goals total of only 1.59. Fulham produced 1.57 xG from 12 attempts, took the lead through a Lisandro Martínez own goal and were less than two minutes from victory before Cunha's heavily deflected effort rescued United.
There has been enough attacking activity to suggest United are not simply being overwhelmed every week. They have also hit the woodwork six times already, more than any other Premier League side this season. The problem is that possession, shots and periods of control have not translated into enough good chances or points, while individual errors continue to punish them at the other end.
How does this compare with United’s previous worst start?
The direct comparison is 2014/15, Van Gaal's first season at Old Trafford. United also had five points after five league matches then, having won only once, but gradually stabilised and eventually finished fourth with 70 points.
Two other notably slow starts came in 2004/05 and 2023/24, when United had six points after five matches. Those seasons ended very differently: Sir Alex Ferguson's 2004/05 team recovered to finish third, while Erik ten Hag's side ended 2023/24 in eighth place, the club's lowest Premier League position at the time.
| Season | Points after 5 games | Final position |
|---|---|---|
| 2026/27 | 5 | — |
| 2014/15 | 5 | 4th |
| 2023/24 | 6 | 8th |
| 2004/05 | 6 | 3rd |
That history is useful because five early points do not dictate where a season will finish. United have recovered from poor August and September results before, but they have also discovered in more recent years how quickly an uncertain start can become a season-long problem.
It is also important to define the record properly. This is United's joint-worst start in the Premier League era after five matches, rather than necessarily the poorest five-game opening across the club's entire league history before 1992.
Why the numbers are particularly disappointing for Carrick
The context makes the start harder to dismiss as merely a difficult fixture list. Before the season, Opta rated United's opening five opponents as the kindest schedule in the Premier League, based on its team power ratings. The sequence contained promoted Hull and Ipswich, followed by Everton, Manchester City and Fulham.
United have taken only one point from Hull and Fulham, while the Ipswich victory accounts for three of their five. The Manchester derby was always likely to be the most demanding fixture of the run, but even that defeat caused frustration because City spent part of the match with ten men and United failed to take advantage.
The contrast with Carrick's work last season is equally sharp. After taking charge during 2025/26, he oversaw a substantial improvement and helped United qualify for the Champions League. Across his 17 league matches last season, United averaged around 2.3 points per game; after five league fixtures this season, that figure is exactly 1.0.
That does not mean the team has suddenly reverted to where it was before his appointment, but it does explain why questions are arriving so early. Carrick entered his first full season with considerably more goodwill and a strengthened squad, so five points from fixtures that appeared manageable represents a clear drop from the standards he established during his initial spell.
The problems go beyond the league table
United's week before the international break made the situation look worse than the five-point total alone. They lost 3-2 to Brighton in the League Cup despite leading 2-0 at Old Trafford, becoming the first United side in 50 years to lose a home match after establishing a two-goal advantage. That defeat came only days after the 1-0 loss to City and was followed by another uneven performance at Fulham.
Gary Neville focused less on the result at Craven Cottage than on United's attitude immediately after half-time, describing one 15-minute spell as among the poorest he could remember watching from the club. Carrick acknowledged that United had lost control during that period but pointed to the volume of opportunities they created and the saves made by Bernd Leno.
Both observations can be true. United were capable of creating enough pressure to win the match while still producing long stretches in which the intensity and structure fell away. That inconsistency has been a feature of the opening month: the 5-2 victory against Ipswich showed what the attack can look like when chances are converted, but United have scored only three league goals across their other four fixtures.
The 2014/15 comparison gives United a route out
Van Gaal's first season remains the obvious reference because the starting totals are identical. His United side also looked unsettled in August and September, adjusting to a new system and suffering an extraordinary 5-3 defeat at Leicester in their fifth match, yet they recovered sufficiently to secure fourth place and Champions League qualification.
There is no guarantee that the same trajectory follows in 2026/27, but it shows why describing the season as a failure after five matches would be premature. What matters more is whether United begin turning performances such as Fulham into victories rather than explaining afterwards why their shot count suggested they deserved more.
The international break gives Carrick an unusual amount of time to work on that. United's next Premier League match is at home to Tottenham on October 10, followed by Leeds, Bournemouth and Chelsea before the end of the month.
Tottenham will arrive with problems of their own after taking only two points from their opening five matches, so the fixture already carries more pressure than might normally be expected in early October. United's schedule then becomes more complicated, making it difficult to treat the opening five games as an isolated slow start if the results do not improve quickly.
So is this Manchester United’s worst Premier League start?
Statistically, it is joint-worst rather than outright worst. Five points from five matches equals the club's 2014/15 Premier League low, while no United side has collected fewer at the same stage since the competition was formed.
The precedent from 2014/15 also prevents the number from becoming a verdict on the entire season. That team recovered to finish fourth, while other poor starts have produced everything from third place to eighth. Five matches tell us where United are now, not necessarily where they will be in May.
What they do show is how much momentum has been lost. Carrick took over a struggling side last season and turned it into a Champions League qualifier; his first full campaign has opened with one win from five, an early League Cup exit and five points from a schedule that was supposed to give United a relatively gentle start. The historical record is still only shared, but the next few matches will determine whether the comparison with 2014/15 remains an early-season curiosity or develops into something much more damaging.
Published by Patrick Jane
21.09.2026