Manchester United struggled against Bournemouth and in doing so have become the luckiest team in the Premier League this season.
On Saturday evening, Manchester United headed to the Vitality, taking on Bournemouth in a game which finished a 2-2 draw.
Bruno Fernandes was the scorer of both goals for United, one a finish smashed into the roof of the net, another a penalty – his 11th and 12th of the season as he now has 21 goal contributions in 2023/24.
READ: Manchester United top scorers and assist leaders for 2023/24
Since the game has finished, negativity around the club has magnified with a lot going on right now.
But despite the draw only adding to the form which has United winning one Premier League game in seven, there is a reason to be thankful.
That reason sees United as the luckiest side in the league for one reason, let’s find out what…
What makes Manchester United the Premier League’s luckiest side
For United, a draw was actually a very lucky result as Bournemouth were the better side by quite some distance.
Besides their two goals, the closest they had came was in the 41st minute when left-back Milos Kerkez hit the crossbar.
The hitting of the bar for the Cherries actually made United the joint luckiest team in the league.
This season, opponents have hit the woodwork 18 times against United, which is the joining most in the entire competition with Fulham who also have 18, according to Premier League Productions.
This is quite a stat and clearly shows how much worse this season could actually be going, with a few centimetres making all the difference.
Something which Andre Onana will likely be delighted by.
Erik ten Hag has been lucky but it’s running out
With the 2-2 draw on Saturday evening, Ten Hag’s side have won just one game in seven Premier League fixtures.
This has seen the club now lose their comfortable sixth-place standing, currently in seventh as it now looks possible that United will suffer the worst finish in the club’s history.
But even then, the expected points this season, as per UnderStat, show this is an overachievement.
This table sees a group of five teams who are quite similar in expected points with 18th and 12th at least three points adrift.
It’s embarrassing for the club to be in this situation, playing so terribly and something needs to change.