Manchester United were held to a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Sunday in a game filled with speculation over the future of under-fire visiting coach Erik ten Hag and the team’s worst start in the Premier League era.

The draw means Unai Emery’s men go into the international break in fifth place in the table with 14 points after seven games, while United sit in 14th with eight points and are still hoping for their third win of the season.

Their points tally is United’s lowest in the first seven games of a Premier League season and their lowest in a league season since 1989/90 (seven points), when they finished 13th under Alex Ferguson – his lowest finish in the league as a trainer.

“It wasn’t perfect, we probably didn’t pass the ball as well as we would have liked, but we got a point away from home against a good team,” United defender Jonny Evans told Sky Sports.

United captain Bruno Fernandes had the best chance of the game for both teams when he fired a free kick from outside the box onto the crossbar in the 68th minute. Antony then missed the target with the rebound and keeper Emi Martínez came out of his goal.

Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images

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Villa’s Jaden Philogene had a spectacular attempt to score in stoppage time after Matthijs de Ligt missed Morgan Rogers’ drilled ball over the goal. Philogene’s shot appeared to go into the net, but Diogo Dalot turned and blocked it with his back. Emery buried his head in his hands in frustration.

United’s miserable start to the season has put Ten Hag back in the spotlight and the team’s entire senior management team – co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, CEO Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox – were present at Villa Park for what many believed was a crucial game for the manager.

The afternoon was a tale of teams going in different directions, with United making a historically poor start and Villa enjoying their best start to the season since 2008-09, recording a 1-0 Champions League win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

United played with significantly more confidence and unity than in their last two games – a dismal 3-0 league defeat against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, followed by a 3-3 Europa League draw against FC Porto on Thursday, in which they conceded two goals.

United’s Marcus Rashford had a couple of near misses, with Villa keeper Martinez, forced into a save in the opening minutes of the game, firing a shot over the bar just after half-time.

Rogers fired a shot just wide of United’s goal in the first half.

Villa defender Ezri Konsa limped to the bench in the 12th minute after sustaining a hamstring injury – a blow to Villa and England ahead of upcoming Nations League games against Greece and Finland.

United also lost defender Harry Maguire, who limped at the end of the first half.