2nd after 40 games: Statistic reveals Man Utd’s progress under Erik ten Hag

Manchester United have made good progress since Erik ten Hag took over as their manager last summer.

They qualified for the Champions League in a relatively comfortable fashion last term, and will be aiming to challenge for the Premier League title this campaign.

The start to the season has been unconvincing, but we saw how Ten Hag turned the club’s fortunes around after defeats in the first two games of his reign.

Overall, United have picked up 78 points after the first 40 league games under the Dutchman. When we compare to the current Premier League managers, only Pep Guardiola has fared best.

The Spaniard accumulated 82 points with Manchester City. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp comes third on the list with 71 while Mikel Arteta managed only 63 points with Arsenal in the same period.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was previously United’s head coach for nearly 1000 days, only picked up 68 points from his first 40 top-flight matches with the Red Devils.

The progress under Ten Hag is quite visible from that statistic. The 53-year-old has proved that he is the right man for the job and the board need to back him further.

Over the past 14 months, the hierarchy have made plenty of signings recommended by the Dutchman and hopefully, we will see some late spending before the deadline.

United have bolstered their squad from last season with Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund. The latter is short in fitness, but should make his debut next month.

Ten Hag may ideally want another defensive midfielder in the squad before the transfer window closes. Sofyan Amrabat seems the most likely target for the Red Devils.