Stat reveals Man Utd's poor away record undermines progress under Erik ten Hag

Manchester United's 1-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday night was disappointing for a number of reasons.

The result, courtesy of a penalty from Alexis Mac Allister in the ninth minute of stoppage-time, not only kept Newcastle third in the Premier League table ahead of United, but also opened the door for Liverpool and potentially Brighton to still push the race for Champions League qualification into the final games of the season.

United were also second best at the Amex Stadium against a vibrant, elegant Albion, who continue to go from strength to strength under Roberto De Zerbi, though Jason Steele was forced into five saves on the night as Marcus Rashford among others went close.

But a huge error from Luke Shaw, who dangled a stray arm in the air from a Brighton corner, gave the home side the perfect opportunity to earn all three points, and World Cup winner Mac Allister dispatched his penalty with ruthless efficiency past David de Gea.

Disappointment on the road is nothing new for United this season, despite their overall progress, and Brighton's victory only furthered the misery Erik ten Hag has endured against sides in the top half of the table.

Against the other teams in the current top nine, all of whom United have now played away from home, Ten Hag's charges have come out on the losing in seven out of eight outings.

In fact, the only point they've picked up on the road was against Tottenham Hotspur, who are onto their second interim manager in what has been a turbulent season to say the least, when a 2-0 half-time lead was eroded by Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min.

And as if one point from a possible 24 wasn't bad enough, the goal returns in those fixtures is even more frightening. United have scored just eight goals and have conceded a whopping 28 - with five of the eight fixtures seeing Ten Hag's team ship three or more.

Opponent

Scoreline

• Brentford  0-4
• Manchester City  3-6
• Aston Villa  1-3
• Arsenal  2-3
• Liverpool  0-7
• Newcastle  0-2
• Tottenham  2-2
• Brighton  0-1

That goal difference of -20 goes some way to showing that United have a lot of work to do against the Premier League's better sides, particularly when it comes to showing discipline and organisation after falling behind.

Five games remain for United to get things back on track and secure a place in the top four, but there's still a couple of tricky away games to negotiate. West Ham await at the London Stadium on Sunday, with a trip to resurgent Bournemouth also ahead. Wolves, Chelsea and Fulham make up the club's remaining home games.

There's then the small matter of the FA Cup final on June 3, when United clash with Manchester City at Wembley looking to complete a domestic cup double - a 2-0 win over Newcastle in February clinched the Carabao Cup for Ten Hag in his debut season.

On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss the possibility of Neymar joining Newcastle, Jude Bellingham's decision on his future and Lionel Messi leaving PSG.