Manchester United underwent a rather sobering episode on Saturday.

The Red Devils went into the Manchester Derby joint top with their city rivals but came out of it on the end of a 2-1 defeat that arguably could have been a lot heavier than it was.

For the first half, in particular, the Red Devils were given a masterclass in possession football by Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s men raced into a 2-0 lead before handing a goal back to United.

2-1 it stayed though leaving many United fans thinking significant improvement from some players is a necessity if they hope to still win the title this year.

We’ve teamed up with 7 Of The Best to bring you a footballing treat for the season. It’s free to play and the best individual score each week wins £500, the highest scoring team wins £1,500 a week and there is a prize of £2,000 for the best individual over the course of a month. Want to win bigger? Nab yourself a whopping £500k if you get all seven of your selections correct for seven consecutive weeks.

So, in keeping with this theme, we think if these seven individuals don’t up their game, United won’t be lifting the Premier League trophy in May…

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

The Armenian has found it tough so far at United thanks to injuries. He did, however, have the chance to show his undoubted talent for the first time properly at the weekend but flopped and was duly subbed at half-time. The general consensus is that he’ll still come good for the Red Devils but if that doesn’t happen quickly he could be wanting out and so could his current employers.

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Paul Pogba

The world’s most expensive player was always going to have a line of critics ready to jump on him and look for weakness and so far he hasn’t done enough to prove them wrong. The Frenchman is unplayable on his day but seemed almost overwhelmed by City’s mobility in the middle of the park last weekend. A player with his price tag is bound to attract scrutiny and he needs to step up to it as soon as possible.

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Chris Smalling

Smalling went into this season as arguably United’s first choice centre-half but a combination of Eric Bailly joining and a pre-season injury has seen him fall down the pecking order. Nevertheless he is fit now and really should be getting ahead of Daley Blind in the Old Trafford outfit’s line-up so it begs the question why he hasn’t. Blind has been okay in the back four but Smalling is a better option and needs to show it.

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Wayne Rooney

Everything Rooney seems to do goes wrong at the moment so you have to wonder what he needs to do to get people off of his case. Even so, he isn’t performing as well as he can and surely knows that whilst he also needs to realise he is an attacking player and dropping deep is only hindering both him and United’s team, as well as frustrating the Red Devils’ supporters.

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Anthony Martial

Martial was one of United’s best players this season but he looks only a shadow of that so far this time around. The Frenchman has the ability to take on any full back but he looks inhibited by something this year causing him to start on the bench for the game on Saturday. He did come on but was largely ineffectual and now is in serious risk of losing his position to Marcus Rashford.

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Ander Herrera

Some think Ander should be starting as the holding player in United’s midfield, allowing Pogba to maraud forward but evidently, he’s not doing enough to feature in Jose Mourinho’s plans. The Spaniard came on at half-time in the Manchester Derby and seemed to make some impression on the game so might get a chance this weekend. If he doesn’t make use of this latest opportunity, though, he only has himself to blame.

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Jesse Lingard

It made for pretty awkward viewing watching Jesse Lingard’s performance on Saturday as it looked like he had a hole in his foot. The occasion clearly got to him and he was duly pulled during half-time. He may not get an opportunity to prove his worth for a while now in light of that showing so he needs to raise it in training in the hope he can force his way back into the reckoning.

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