Nottingham Forest's win on Saturday meant that Manchester United dropped into the relegation zone as their dire season reached new lows

Dimitar Berbatov was left in disbelief as Manchester United fell into the relegation zone after Saturday's results.

The Bulgarian played at Old Trafford from 2008 until 2012 back when the club were serial winners and relegation was never even a prospect. The club have fallen massively from those heights and have endured their worst ever start to a Premier League season.

Michael Carrick's side have won just one of their nine games so far this term and Nottingham Forest's 3-1 win over Manchester City on Saturday saw them leapfrog United at the wrong end of the table.

It means they now sit in the bottom three, only above Crystal Palace and Sunderland, where they will remain if they don't beat Aston Villa on Sunday - and Berbatov could not hide his shame.

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Berbatov, who won two Premier League titles during his time in Manchester, said: “I don’t believe it, but the way United are playing sometimes they deserve to be there honestly.”

He was left with his head in his hands but then added with some optimism: “Tomorrow they still have a game.”

United haven't won in the league since August, when they beat Ipswich at home. Since then they've endured some horrific results, losing 3-0 to Bournemouth the last time they played in front of their own fans. Carrick has held onto his job despite mounting pressure and he'll need to beat a Villa side that are on the up if they are to avoid the embarrassment of being in the relegation zone during the international break.

The Red Devils may take hope from Villa's poor recent record at Old Trafford. Unai Emery ‘s side, for all their good work in recent years, have lost in all of their last three visits to the red side of Manchester.

United's worst finish in the Premier League era remains the 15th position they recorded in 2024/25, when Ruben Amorim took over midway through the campaign from Erik ten Hag. They would lose 18 of their 38 games that season.