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Nobody in Europe has played more games of football than Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United side this season and the events of the last couple of weeks suggest the workload has taken its toll.
With Lisando Martinez now out for the season with an injury and Raphael Varane only likely to play a very small amount of football if at all, they are stretched at the back.
There were some recoveries for the Sevilla game with Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw and Marcel Sabitzer coming back into the squad.
Here’s who United will be facing next after the embarrassment against Sevilla, left only to focus now on the Premier League and FA Cup.
Straight after cup action in Spain on Thursday, Unied will need to pick themselves up down in London to take on Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final. The Seagulls are a demonstrably good football team and have shown they have what it takes to beat the Red Devils if they get it right on the day.
United must hope that there is not too much in the way of tiredness from the Europa League. Given how well the team has played for large swathes of this season, they will feel they deserve more than one trophy.
From a massive game in Europe, to a massive game in the FA Cup, and then a massive game in the Premier League. This match could be decisive for both sides when it comes to their hopes of finishing the season in the top four.
There are six points between the two sides at the time of writing so if United manage to win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it could spell serious trouble for Spurs and relative comfort for United as they try to hold onto third place.
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A few weeks or so ago, this would not have looked like too complicated a fixture for United to navigate. Now, though, Unai Emery has lofted his Aston Villa team right into the hunt for not just a Europa Conference League or Europa League place, but possibly even a Champions League spot.
They are an outside bet, but the Villans only need to get above Spurs and Newcastle. It’s the latter that will be harder to overturn but they will travel to Old Trafford with a huge amount to play for and confidence all around the squad.
A game where one team will be desperate to make amends after being knocked out of the FA Cup in the semi-finals, this will be United’s final match against a team that is also fighting for European qualification.
United’s worrying away form means this could be an extremely tough game for the Red Devils and one where Ten Hag will want as many quality options on his bench as possible. If United have suffered more injuries in the run-up to this game, it could be a very difficult evening on the south coast.
While West Ham may be looking like a pretty hopeless football team right now, at least in domestic football, going away to a side in their position late in the season comes with many dangers that everyone is well aware of. It’s a game United will want to get wrapped up as early as possible.
A fast start with players like Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Antony and Christian Eriksen could prove too much for a very weak Hammers side but if they can stay in the game until the final 15 minutes, anything can happen.
There is the potential for Wolves to be pretty much out of the relegation battle when this game comes around, which would be of benefit to United.
While a ridiculous number of teams are involved in the relegation battle in the Premier League, Wolves have picked up recent victories to give themselves a reasonable buffer over the bottom three.
United may then face a team with a lot less to play for and, with their home form being so good, victory may be simple enough.
