There are 92 days until the January transfer window opens and, even then, it is doubtful Manchester United would have much luck landing a player in that short mid-winter market who could help to plug the quality gap that is starting to feel more pronounced with each passing week.

The likelihood is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will have to keep working with what he has got and, as he faces up to United’s worst start to a league season since the club were pondering whether to sack Sir Alex Ferguson 30 years ago, he could probably do worse than experiment with a couple of changes.

Nothing highlights the current state of play at Old Trafford quite like the issues in the critical No 10 role, centre forward position and wide-right berth in Solskjaer’s favoured 4-2-3-1 system and, until those are addressed, goals are likely to remain at a premium.

Only Crystal Palace among the Premier League’s top 10 have scored fewer than United’s nine from seven matches, which is a third of the total plundered by neighbours Manchester City. United pressed for a winner against Arsenal on Monday but have now failed to score more than once in 18 of their last 21 matches under Solskjaer, a deeply troubling statistic.