Manchester has its fair share of rainfall this time of year – and it’s certainly pouring on the beleaguered Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his players at the moment.

Saturday’s loss to Newcastle leaves them in 12th and only two points off the relegation zone. It’s best to leave it there in terms of damning statistics.

So what does this mean for your XIs? Is it time to transfer out the likes of Rashford, Maguire and De Gea?

Or is it worth waiting for the return of Pogba, Martial and Shaw to see if they can inject some momentum into the stalling Red Devils?

Oddly enough given his prowess as a striker, Solskjaer’s problems in a coaching sense seem to be getting his men scoring goals. They have only registered nine so far, just a third of what their Mancunian neighbours have managed (sorry, we did say no more damning statistics).

Yet defensively they are stable, with only eight let in.

And to continue the positivity, here’s something we bet you didn’t think you’d see written today: United are third in the (*) table

*expected points

Yes, after eight games, understat.com have only Man City and Liverpool above Solskjaer’s men, in their table that reflects the quality of chances at both ends of the field (not actual goals scored).

The same table has Liverpool, somewhat incredibly, ahead of their age-old rivals by only 0.68 points, as opposed to the gigantic real-world gap of 15.

So there’s hope beneath the surface for United. Our feel on how to play it? Stick by the defenders, ditch the attackers.

Up-and-coming assisters is where we go next. We all know about the Kevin de Bruynes of this world, but who can you enlist to outwit your mates and find some value?

Here’s three names all with three Fantasy League assists so far this season: Matteo Guendouzi, Erik Pieters and Anwar El-Ghazi.

Pieters is probably our pick of the bunch here, given he had played every minute for Burnley until Saturday’s second-half – when he went off injured – and had formed part of a miserly Clarets’ defence. All eyes on Sean Dyche’s medical briefings this week if you are considering him.

If you’d gambled on Man City’s defenders for your selections last weekend, it wasn’t a bad choice given their opponents Wolves had been in Europa League action and were stationed towards the foot of the table.

Some might have said the same about Spurs’ backline – indeed in our Friday preview we even backed them to find a clean sheet after their humiliation at home to Bayern Munich the previous week (eek, sorry).

Your weekly picks likely come down to your own individual mix of gut feel and research, and that will work more often that not.

But alas, the Premier League and its pesky unpredictability.

It’s why we all keep playing…