Ten Hag admits Man Utd relegation is possible in chilling warning to former club

Former Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag insists that relegation is a genuine possibility for his former side - who are only outside the bottom three on goal difference.

They lost for the third game on the bounce at the weekend as they were beaten by Chelsea, finishing with 10 men as pressure further ramped up on Michael Carrick. The former player faces being the third manager axed by the Ineos hierarchy in a little over two years.

The first was Ten Hag, who was shown the door in 2024 when United sat 14th. They're now even lower down in 17th with one win from their nine Premier League games - that victory coming over newly promoted Ipswich at Old Trafford.

United have not been relegated since 1974 but Ten Hag, who won a domestic cup in both of his full seasons is charge, admits that dropping into the Championship cannot be ruled out such is the club's downward spiral.

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The Dutchman was quizzed on whether he sees United being relegated and told ESPN NL's 'Goedemorgen Eredivisie': "In the Premier League it's certainly possible, because all the teams are simply strong. They're all strong squads, all good managers. And if you end up on the wrong side once and you really get into that vicious circle - yes, then it can become very, very difficult."

For all their struggles since Sir Alex Ferguson this is new found territory for the Red Devils. United have not been in the relegation zone after nine games or more since November 1986, when they collected a single point in Ferguson's first two games in charge following Ron Atkinson's dismissal.

United's upcoming fixtures are not favourable, which means this could all get worse before it threatens to get better. Their next league assignment sees them face Aston Villa before travelling to Liverpool.

Carrick has said on the prospect of going down: "We've got to keep moving forward and winning games, simple as that. There's no words that I'm going to explain to you now that makes it [being in relegation zone] any difference, it's not going to change it."

The United boss, who only got the job permanently in the summer, said it was simply a case of seeing their situation differently. "You can look at it like that [negatively] and you can look at how far you can move up the league quite quickly if you win football matches," he said. "So that's the way it's got to be approached, for sure."