“The aim has to be winning the Premier League. I know people will be questioning me for saying it after last season, but it has to be that,” Luke Shaw said to Sky Sports during Manchester United’s pre-season tour of America. “We all have to have the same beliefs and ambitions, and that family feeling together, and we’ll strive for the same thing.” That was not just a questionable declaration; it was borderline delusional after the worst campaign in the club’s entire history.
Shaw’s comments initially aged like milk, as United won just two of their opening six Premier League games of the 2025-26 campaign. A woeful 3-1 defeat at Brentford left Ruben Amorim’s side languishing in 14th at the end of September, and the large majority of the fanbase were calling for the Portuguese manager to be dismissed.
But everything has changed over the last month. The Red Devils finally sparked into life by dispatching high-flying Sunderland 2-0 at Old Trafford, before ending a nine-year winless run at Anfield and Amorim’s hunt for the first back-to-back league victories of his turbulent reign.
United made it three on Saturday, beating Brighton 4-2 to climb into the European spots, six points behind early pace-setters Arsenal. The Seagulls threatened to complete a sensational comeback late on, but Bryan Mbeumo made the points safe in the end, and it was no less than the home side deserved.
“I think they are more confident,” Amorim told reporters when asked what has driven the recent improvement in his players. “I think the best game that we did this season was against Arsenal, the first one. But then, when you are a little bit more confident, when you have a different spirit, sometimes you have a little bit [of] luck in certain moments of the game that help you to win.”
After so many months of misery, United are finally making their own luck, and all of a sudden, Shaw’s bold statement of intent sounds more like a prophecy. Few outsiders will be entertaining the possibility of the Premier League trophy heading back to Old Trafford after a 13-year absence come May just yet, but now, that absolutely has to be the aim for Amorim and his constantly improving team. This is more than just a mini-resurgence; United are playing their best football of the entire post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
And there are plenty of reasons to believe that Amorim can deliver the title two years ahead of the schedule set out by part-owners INEOS…
Lethal Mbeumo & Amad combination
There was widespread concern for Amad Diallo’s future after United’s £71 million ($95m) summer capture of Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford. Amad was the second-best player in the team last term, behind only Bruno Fernandes, and delivered a host of memorable moments from the right flank, most notably his late winner at Manchester City and hat-trick against Southampton.
Mbeumo, meanwhile, arrived on the back of a 20-goal season in the same role at Brentford, and it was difficult to see how Amorim could fit the Cameroonian and Amad into the same starting XI. Some early teething problems came as no surprise, then, but they’ve steadily built a lethal partnership that has been the driving force behind United’s upturn in form.
Amad has embraced a new wing-back role with Mbeumo ahead of him in one of the No.10 slots within Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation. The electrifying duo have dovetailed perfectly, particularly against Liverpool, when Amad set his new colleague through to score the opening goal inside two minutes with a superb outside-of-the-foot pass.
“At the beginning, because he was a new player, we were trying to understand each other,” Amad told United’s official media channels after the 2-1 victory. “But now we find a solution, when he goes to right wing-back, I go as a No.10. When he plays as a No.10, I stay as a right-wing-back. So I think now we have a very good relationship, even outside the pitch. This is [also] very important.”
That natural rapport shines through in their body language, and if one of them doesn’t find a breakthrough in the final third, the other will. Amad’s numbers have reduced because he now has to do more work defensively, but that’s a small price to pay for facilitating Mbeumo’s swift integration.
The former Brentford ace is fast emerging as the best value signing of the summer in the Premier League, with six goal contributions from his first 10 games, including a brilliant brace against Brighton. Mbeumo and Amad will be expected to head off to the Africa Cup of Nations, which runs from December 21 to January 18, but if United can stay in touch with Arsenal in their absence, there is every chance they could combine to sustain a title charge through the second half of the season.
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