Coventry win leaves Man United on brink of Premier League relegation zone

Manchester United are on the brink of the Premier League relegation zone after a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea was compounded by Coventry City's 3-1 home win over Sunderland, which saw the promoted side leapfrog the fallen giants.

Ten-man United were beaten at Stamford Bridge in Saturday's early kickoff, Al Jazeera's Kevin Hand reported. Despite an improved first-half display in which recalled captain Bruno Fernandes spurned a chance, the game turned when Lisandro Martinez was shown a second yellow card for a reckless challenge on Wesley Fofana.

Only Nottingham Forest's 2-0 defeat at Brentford kept United out of the bottom three — the joint record Premier League winners sit one place above the drop zone. The 20-time English champions have won only once in nine league games, and their only two victories from 13 matches in all competitions this season came against promoted sides. A point for Crystal Palace at Tottenham on Saturday would push United into the bottom three.

Pressure is piling onto manager Michael Carrick, who is only in his first full season in charge, ahead of Tuesday's Champions League home match against Roma.

"I think the mentality was there right from the first minute," said United forward Bryan Mbeumo. "Maybe today we just missed some chances. We could have been up early in the game."

"The two halves of football couldn't probably be further apart," Carrick said. "We looked in a good place going into half-time and then found a way of unravelling it second half."