Thursday 28 January 2016 16:46, UK
With their lowest-ever Premier League points total after 23 games and a five-point gap to Tottenham in fourth place, the outlook looks bleak for Manchester United.
However, a look at previous seasons shows that teams have recovered from bigger gaps at the end of January to finish in the top four.
Leeds were six points behind in 1998/99 but won seven games in a row to ensure they comfortably finished in fourth place in May.
And they repeated the feat again under David O'Leary in 2000/01 in even more impressive style as they surged up from 10th at the end of January to finish in fourth.
Alongside a run to the semi-finals of the Champions League, Leeds won nine of their last 11 league games to end the season two points above Ipswich Town.
Arsenal have also closed the gap on a few occasions in the final months of the season to finish in fourth place or better.
In 2011/12 they were six points off the top four at the end of January but ended in third place, helped by a run of nine wins from 10 matches, including a 7-1 victory over Blackburn and a 5-2 win against Spurs.
The Gunners climbed even further in 1997/98 as they went onto win the title after being four points outside the Champions League places at the end of January.
They made up a five-point gap in 2008/09 to qualify for the Champions League while, most recently, in 2012/13 they recovered from four points behind to finish fourth.
