Michael Carrick will stay on as Manchester United boss

Michael Carrick may be as surprised as anyone after being retained as Manchester United boss. Carrick was widely expected to be sacked after Sunday's 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth continued a wretched start to the season.

Carrick himself seemed resigned to his fate, saying after the game: "It's a tough situation, there's no hiding from it. What it looks like and what's next, I really don't know.

"I will always do my best for the football club and I won't change that now. I love what I do and I feel the responsibility - we'll have to wait and see."

That sounded like a man who thought the writing was on the wall. But after crunch talks involving chief executive Omar Berrada, director of football Jason Wilcox and co-owners the Glazer family and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the decision has been made that Carrick will stay on as head coach.

The decision speaks volumes, suggesting they know the club's problems run much deeper than who is in the dugout. Having taken training on Tuesday morning, Carrick will now plan for the trip to Chelsea as normal.

The decision will go down well with some United fans, many of whom cheered him following the loss to Bournemouth before turning on the players.

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What those players think of the decision remains to be seen, but their performance at Chelsea will tell us much. Carrick's most intriguing selection decision will revolve around Bruno Fernandes, who was dropped for the Bournemouth game after criticising Carrick's tactics in the Champions League mauling against Como.

Carrick claimed the decision to drop Fernandes, who was also at Carrington on Tuesday morning, was a "pure football" decision rather than punishment, but the Portugal international did not play a minute.

Social media users have since spotted his Instagram account liking a video that contained the message: "Never push a loyal person to the point where they no longer care."

But with United without a win in eight games and in desperate need of points, there is a strong case for the club's best player to be restored to the side.

United sit just a point above the Premier League relegation zone in 16th place ahead of the Chelsea game, before heading into the international break with home games against Roma and Aston Villa.