Erik ten Hag is on the brink of being fired by Manchester United, with only a victory over high-flying Aston Villa on Sunday likely to be enough to see him survive the international break.

United have made a dismal start to the season, suffering Premier League defeats to Brighton, Liverpool and Tottenham inside the opening seven games to leave them languishing in 13th place in the table.

Ten Hag was spared further embarrassment on Thursday thanks to a late Harry Maguire equaliser to rescue a 3-3 Europa League draw in Porto. United had led the game 2-0 before giving up three unanswered goals and having captain Bruno Fernandes shown a red card, only for the England defender to find the back of the net in stoppage time.

The result may only provide temporary relief for Ten Hag, who has come under intense scrutiny for United’s disorganized, chaotic displays stretching back to last season.

Sunday’s trip to Villa Park is United’s final game before the two-week international break – a period often used by clubs to make a change in the dugout – and Ten Hag will certainly be fearing the worst if his team produces another poor performance.

Villa, meanwhile, head into the game off the back of a historic victory over Bayern Munich on Wednesday – perhaps the club’s most famous win in decades – and few pundits would give United much chance of digging out a result on current form.

Harry Maguire spared Ten Hag from a damaging defeat in Porto

Harry Maguire spared Ten Hag from a damaging defeat in Porto ( 

Image:

Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)

Ten Hag has been in charge at Old Trafford since 2022, leading the Red Devils to a respectable third-place finish in his first season in charge, as well as winning the Carabao Cup. His second season at the helm, however, was disastrous, winding up eighth in the Premier League.

It appeared his time in charge was up, only to win the FA Cup final over Manchester City in May to finish the season on a high, convincing new owners Ineos to keep faith with the former Ajax boss. He was backed in the transfer market this summer, signing Matthijs De Ligt, Manuel Ugarte, Noussair Mazraoui, Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee.

Former United goalkeeper Tim Howard believes that was a mistake, with the former United States Men’s National Team star telling NBC Sports: “They doubled down on Ten Hag and backed him by bringing in more of his players. When you look at the squad it’s not a brilliant squad, they spent a lot of money on some average players, certainly not Manchester United players.

“”I’m not sure why they didn’t [fire Ten Hag in the summer], maybe financial reasons?”Or they didn’t have the right person in place to replace him or maybe they truly believed he was the right person. I’m not sure that it looks that way.”