Thursday 17 December 2015 17:12, UK
Manchester United may be enduring a five-game winless run, but history shows that Louis van Gaal's side can still go on to capture the Premier League title.
United have not won a match in any competition since Troy Deeney's last-minute own goal helped them beat Watford 2-1 in the league on November 21.
Following that victory at Vicarage Road, the Red Devils have drawn with PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League and Leicester City and West Ham in the Premier League, before losing at Wolfsburg in Europe and Bournemouth on the domestic front.
However, while there is plenty of gloom around Old Trafford, there is a chink of light at the end of the tunnel for the club's supporters, even if United extend their winless streak to six games at home to Norwich City on Saturday.
That is because the last two times United went six matches without a victory in all competitions, they went on to win the title, in 1992/93 and perhaps even more amazingly in their treble-winning campaign of 1998/99.
In the former, Sir Alex Ferguson's team went with winning between September 19 and October 3 1992, a sequence of six successive draws in the league, League Cup and the UEFA Cup.
And despite then going on another run of five games without a win from October 18 to November 7 - four of which came in the Premier League, the last two ending in defeats - United still landed their first Premier League title in May.
Six years later United endured another six-match winless stretch between December 2, 1998 - when they lost 3-1 at Tottenham in the League Cup fifth round - and a 3-2 home defeat to Middlesbrough in the league on December 19.
In between those reverses, United drew 1-1 with Bayern Munich at Old Trafford in the Champions League and were held by Aston Villa, Spurs and Chelsea in the Premier League. However, Ferguson and his players were the ones smiling after claiming an unprecedented treble five months later.
And with United also going on to be crowned champions in 1996 after going five games in mid-season without recording a league win, not all hope is lost that this campaign could end with a 21st top-flight title in the Old Trafford trophy cabinet.
To read more stats from Martin Tyler's weekly column, including on Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud's latest milestone, comeback victories, set-piece goals and Premier League winners' points tallies, click here.
