It was yet more bleak viewing for the travelling Manchester United supporters on Boxing Day as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

United played well in spells but once they went down to ten men thanks to Bruno Fernandes' second bookable offence, it never felt as though they would be able to salvage a point, never mind picking up all three. In the post-match press conference, the question of relegation was brought up to Ruben Amorim and sadly it was justified.

"In this moment, we just have to survive and to win sometimes to work on the team," he responded. "We already knew it.

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"I start this job and start with the team, the new idea of no time to train, a lot of games, tough games, we already knew it, it’s a long journey. Like I said in the first day, we have to continue and we have to fight these bad moments because this is part of football."

Talk of survival is a foreign concept to many United fans but the present day facts, coupled with history, creates cause for concern. As it stands, United are eight points above the drop zone (seven should Ipswich Town beat Arsenal on Friday).

That is a considerable buffer but their meagre points tally of 22 points at Christmas has seen other clubs relegated. Reading had the same number in 2007/08 and were relegated to The Championship.

As were Blackpool in their debut campaign in the top flight and they had a whopping 28 points at this stage of the season. What should be stressed is that both The Seasiders and The Royals are exceptions to the rule but United are showing similarities to all teams that eventually succumb to relegation.

You look at United at the moment and you genuinely wonder where the next victory is going to come from. Beating Manchester City should have been the catalyst, but instead, confidence has been zapped by defeats to Bournemouth and Wolves.

United's next five Premier League matches are as follows; Newcastle (H), Liverpool (A), Southampton (H), Brighton and Hove Albion (H) and Fulham (A). On current form, United are only favourites to beat Southampton but who knows whether they will be able to manage that should the Saints' performances improve under their new boss.

As the old adage goes: 'Football is not played on paper,' but should results follow the form guide between now and the end of January, the relegation conversation will become all the more real and after the likes of; Leeds, Newcastle and Aston Villa were all relegated in recent memory, there is no argument to suggest that United are too big to follow suit.