Michael Carrick is in desperate need of a result when Manchester United head to Chelsea on Saturday - and Sir Jim Ratcliffe will be watching from the stands

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is expected to fly into London to attend Manchester United's Premier League match with Chelsea on Saturday. The visit comes amid unprecedented pressure on Michael Carrick following the disappointing start to the new season.

United currently occupy 16th place in the league having managed just one win from their opening eight matches. Their European form makes for equally grim reading, with United picking up just one victory from three Champions League outings, leaving them 20th in that table.

They were also dumped out of the Carabao Cup in the third round following a 3-2 defeat to an in-form Brighton and Hove Albion, piling further misery on supporters. While the Old Trafford hierarchy have backed Carrick for now, the board have already demonstrated their willingness to wield the axe when it comes to underperforming managers.

Erik ten Hag was dismissed in October 2024 after an equally dreadful start to the season, with his replacement Ruben Amorim also shown the exit door in January of this year. Carrick will therefore be aware of the pressure bearing down on him when his team face Xabi Alonso's Chelsea in west London this weekend.

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That will only intensify with Ineos chief Ratcliffe watching on from the stands. According to the Sun, Ratcliffe is expected to touch down on English soil on Wednesday, having recently spent time in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. He's yet to watch United claim victory at Stamford Bridge since buying into the club in 2024 having been to two of their last three meetings there.

However, it is not only Carrick who could find himself in hot water should the first team fail to turn things around on Saturday. Sources speaking to BBC Sport have suggested that Ratcliffe may be weighing up a sweeping shake-up of the club's top brass - potentially including chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox.

The speculation comes as club legend Nicky Butt has warned that United's leadership currently has "too many learner drivers" at the helm, drawing attention to the club's decline following Dan Ashworth's departure in December 2024.

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Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast, the 51-year-old said: "Listen, I'm going to point the finger at Jason, and it's not all about. If you put, let's say, a Darren Fletcher in that job, he'd get a bit of, 'Okay, he's not done it before but he knows what the football club's about.'

"If Jason comes in and he is the best of the best, which I believe Dan Ashworth was but didn't have the experience of Man United, that's why he got the job. Because he's the best. Now, if you're not the best, which you'd have to have some sort of feeling for that football club, in my opinion, Jason's not the best of the best, and he's not got the experience of the football club.

"So straight away, we're putting in to that football club at the decision-making level, as in a CEO, a sporting director, even you could say a manager - let's be honest about Michael - is they've all got L plates on their heads.

"You're working at one of the biggest football clubs in the world. You can't do that, you just can't. There's too many learner drivers within that set-up."