Manchester United are clearly struggling with fatigue, according to Luke Chadwick, who says the Red Devils' "spark seems to have disappeared" in recent matches.
United won five of their first six matches in all competitions after returning from lockdown, scoring an impressive 17 goals while only conceding four at the other end of the pitch.
Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood were firing on all cylinders as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men put Sheffield United, Brighton, Bournemouth and Aston Villa to the sword, moving to within touching distance of a place in the top four in the process.
The Red Devils were, however, dealt a setback after being held to a 2-2 draw by Southampton at Old Trafford on July 13, as they produced a performance devoid of the free-flowing attacking verve and intensity of previous games.
The Manchester outfit were equally unconvincing during a 2-0 victory at Crystal Palace, and their 19-match unbeaten run stretching back to January came to an end in stunning fashion when they were beaten 3-1 by Chelsea in last weekend's FA Cup semi-finals.
Fortunately for United, Leicester suffered a damaging defeat to Tottenham on Sunday which opened the door for them to move into the Champions League spots if they avoided defeat at home to West Ham on Wednesday.
Solskjaer watched his side secure the point they needed to go third, and their position was cemented when Chelsea were humbled by Liverpool later that day.
Chadwick sees plenty of cause for concern for the Norwegian despite the Red Devils' position in the table, and has stressed the importance of his old club finishing the job on the final day against Leicester so that they can attract top talent from across Europe this summer.
The former United midfielder wrote in his latest column for Talk of the Devils: “Having watched a lot of the Premier League fixtures since football returned, I would have to say it looks like United’s performance has dropped off the most over the past 3-4 games in terms of what looks like fatigue.
"The spark seems to have disappeared… don’t get me wrong there has still been the odd glimpse here and there, but the difference between say the Brighton or Bournemouth attacking play, and the Southampton or Crystal Palace performances, and again last night, have been like night and day.
"Some suggested that the team selection was down to pressure to qualify for the Champions League.
"I would imagine in the club’s eyes, the most important thing this season is qualification for the Champions League, and rightly so for a business that expects at the very least to be involved in the most lucrative competition in club football.
"To attract the calibre of player to really challenge, Champions League football is a must and of course for the club to finance these sort of moves.
"Obviously any sort of silverware would be a massive boost to everyone at the club after a tough couple of years, I think the majority of fans would accept and understand Ole changing the team for the FA Cup considering the games that were coming up but what would have been very hard to accept would have been the performance as much as the result, crashing out with a bit of a whimper!
"I have been as guilty as anyone of getting a bit carried away in the past couple of weeks, watching United playing with attacking vigour and confidence – reminiscent of the wonderful teams of years gone by!
"The last four performances against Southampton, Palace, Chelsea and West Ham have brought him back down to earth and realise there is still plenty of work for Ole to do to get the club really competing again.”