Andre Onana close to becoming Dream Team’s best goalkeeper but is Manchester United’s form a house of cards?

MANCHESTER UNITED are the most in-form team in the Premier League.

Just let that percolate for a moment.

Erik ten Hag’s side have won five of their last six league games and now find themselves sixth in the table, just two points behind Tottenham.

Not even the most partisan supporter would doubt that the Red Devils’ recent performances have not been as encouraging as the results suggest.

Sunday’s win at Goodison Park being a prime example.

The visitors took all three points via a 3-0 win over Everton when all was said and done with Alejandro Garnacho (£2.4m) scoring a Goal of the Season contender inside three minutes.

However, Man United were also reliant on the Toffees’ wastefulness to some degree as the hosts were on top for long passages of the match.

In fairness, Andre Onana (£3.8m) played his part between the sticks with some notable saves to come away with his seventh clean sheet of the season in all competitions.

Incredibly, no goalkeeper has more clean sheets in 2023/24, a remarkable statistic given the Cameroon international’s shaky individual form throughout the first two months of the campaign.

Naturally, this steady accumulation of clean sheets has translated to Dream Team success.

Improbably, Onana now has 86 points to his name and is just three behind leading keeper Nick Pope (£4.2m).

Backing the ex-Inter custodian appeared fraught with danger but gaffers who rolled the dice have been handsomely rewarded of late.

The question now is whether the points will continue to flow for Onana and company or if United’s current form is build on a house of cards that could tumble any moment?

Their league results have been superb recently but Ten Hag’s side capitulated against Galatasaray and Copenhagen in the Champions League.

They were thoroughly beaten by a third-string Newcastle outfit in the Carabao Cup and, in their one league defeat since the start of October, they were comprehensively outclassed by Manchester City.

Not only that, the nature of their wins have not been entirely convincing.

Scott McTominay (£2.7m) popped up with an unlikely brace in stoppage time to get the job done at home to Brentford, a rare Diogo Dalot (£3.5m) goal proved to be enough in a sloppy showing at Sheffield United, a drab affair at Fulham was settled by a comedic stoppage-time winner from Bruno Fernandes (£5.7m), and Victor Lindelof (£2.4m) was the surprise hero at home to Luton in a relatively even contest before the international break.

Man United fans are well within their rights to celebrate victories however they come – that’s football – but Dream Team bosses should consider whether this is truly a team destined for extended success.

In 13 league games, Onana and friends have allowed their opponents 21.2 expected goals (xG) – only six Premier League clubs have conceded more this season.

This suggests that United have been very fortunate not to have conceded more than 16 goals in the top flight – their Champions League results could be seen as a regression to the mean.

In terms of xG generated in attack, United fair marginally better but their overall rank of 11th is still hugely underwhelming.

It’s a tough one for Dream Team gaffers as Onana is currently producing healthy returns – he’s 18 points clear of the game’s third-best keeper, Alisson (£3.8m).

And yet it wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone if his side’s underlying numbers caught up with them in the coming weeks.

United face Newcastle, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Aston Villa before the turn of the year.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk