United still can’t afford to let up

It was billed as the crunch game for Manchester United, a match that could define a season, if not even an era.

There have been plenty of those in the past, of course, but over the last 20 years or so of serial success, crunch games for United have tended to involve the hunt for domestic and European titles, the pursuit of doubles and even trebles.

This was different. This was crunch as it’s more usually applied to a relegation six-pointer – the painful squeeze felt by a manager and his team when they’re between a rock and hard place, rather than first and second.