It doesn't look good, does it? First, Manchester United got bounced from the fourth round of the FA Cup by Middlesbrough. Sure, they outshot them 30-6 and only lost on penalties, but according to FiveThirtyEight's rating system, Middlesbrough are the 156th-best soccer team in the world. By that metric, they wouldn't be the best team in Liga MX, MLS, the J-League, or even Hungary's Nemzeti Bajnoksag. Then, a couple of days later, United blew an early lead en route to a 1-1 draw with Burnley, who are bottom of the Premier League table with 14 points from 20 games.
This week's results leave United in sixth place in the completely lopsided, traditional Premier League table -- and also in our much more preferable points-per game table. With Arsenal and Tottenham ahead on points per game, FiveThirtyEight gives United just a 19% chance of finishing in the top four. And yet they're still right there, right on the verge of fourth, with a roster of players that the crowd-sourced valuations from the site Transfermarkt consider to be the sixth-most valuable in the world after Manchester City, PSG, Liverpool, Chelsea and Bayern Munich -- or the five favorites to win the Champions League.
In terms of potential performance over the rest of the season, United have the widest array of possibilities of any team in England, if not the world. So, let's take a look at the four questions that will determine how their final 15 Premier League games play out.
All data courtesy of Stats Perform unless otherwise noted