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The former manager's tenure at Manchester United was widely regarded as a significant letdown. Statistically speaking, his record is remarkable for all the negative causes. In the contemporary football age, no boss at the club has managed a worse points return, or managed a final position as poor as the 15th spot. Examining the archives, you have to go back to Frank O'Farrell in 1972 to find a manager at the club who lost a higher percentage of matches. Furthermore, he notoriously carved a niche in club lore by suffering a cup final defeat to Spurs, specifically the current version of Spurs.

Life, but, is not often so straightforward. In spite of the scrutiny of his favored system, the Portuguese manager departs from a team in a significantly improved condition than that which he took over. In a prior match this term, following a victory over Brighton, Welbeck shared that fellow players were lauding United as the most impressive side they had faced in a while. Their performance in a breathtaking high-scoring tie with AFC Bournemouth was equally encouraging and exciting.

Although it is hard to dispute the dismissal—particularly given it was said to be triggered by his criticism of superiors with even worse histories—his demise was finally hampered by awful luck. If fitness issues for crucial stars not happened at the same time as the unavailability of other essential figures, he might still be in the position—maybe even.

Fletcher Takes the Reins

Consequently, Darren Fletcher steps into a relatively stable situation. Key figures like Mason Mount, Bruno Fernandes, and Kobbie Mainoo are now fit, while Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo will in the near future be back from the Afcon. Simply careful husbandry of this talented roster should be adequate to guarantee a top-five finish and, with it, continental football for the coming campaign—most likely in the elite European Cup.

Burnley's Daunting Test

The home side, though, will not make things easy. Despite having only a dozen points and losing three of their last five matches, their showings have often been stronger than the scorelines indicate. Manager Parker will certainly have his squad fired up to take the game to United who are likely to play an starting eleven that has lacked cohesion, deployed in a formation they have gone without for a year or more.

Start time: 8:15 in the evening GMT.