The numbers just keep on getting worse for Wolverhampton Wanderers in a season that's threatening to set a new low in Premier League history.
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Heading into the 16th round of the campaign Wolves are still winless. Sitting bottom of the standings, relegation to the Championship looks inevitable and the job for recently hired coach Rob Edwards now appears to be simply damage limitation.
Unwanted records are in sight with the grand old Midlands club, three times English champions, travelling to top-of-the-table Arsenal on Saturday.
With just two points from 15 games, Wolves are tracking toward a record-low tally of just five if they maintain that form for the rest of the season.
That's less than half the lowest-ever Premier League total of 11 points by Derby County back in the 2007-8 campaign.
"We've got to try to improve. We've got to try to find that belief," said Edwards this week, but a 4-1 home loss to Manchester United on Monday saw fans protest against the club's Chinese owners Fosun.
Some fans boycotted the first 15 minutes of the game and protested outside the stadium. There were further protests during the match as Wolves fell to an eighth-straight league loss.
The last win in the league was in April against a Leicester team on course for relegation.
That was at the end of a six-game winning streak that helped Wolves avoid the drop last term, but it has been bad news ever since, with coach Vitor Pereira fired in November and Edwards so far failing to inspire a turnaround.
Wolves appear to be paying the price for a talent drain in recent years, which has seen a series of top players sold.
Pedro Neto left for Chelsea last year. That was followed by the sales of Rayan Ait-Nouri to Manchester City and Matheus Cunha to Manchester United in the last transfer window.
Matheus Nunes (City), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest) and Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal) have been other high profile departures to weaken a team that had back-to-back seventh-place finishes in 2019 and 2020.
In other matches this weekend, Sunderland host Newcastle in a renewal of the Tyne/Wear derby on Sunday, while Man City's trip to Crystal Palace will be a repeat of last season's FA Cup final, won by Palace.
Liverpool host Brighton on Saturday, with the champions trying to get their season back on track after a run of just two wins in their last 10 league games.
The focus will again be on Liverpool icon Mohamed Salah at Anfield, with doubt over his future after he claimed he'd been "thrown under the bus" by the club.
Salah had been dropped for three-straight games and responded with an explosive interview following last week's 3-3 draw with Leeds.
He was then dropped from the squad for Liverpool's Champions League match with Inter Milan on Tuesday, with coach Arne Slot saying he didn't know if Salah would play again for the club.
Salah heads off to the Africa Cup of Nations next week and if left out of Liverpool's squad again, it will only raise further doubts about his Anfield future.
Australian Associated Press
