Carrick expects to be in charge as winless Man Utd host Roma on Tuesday

Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick expects to be in charge on Tuesday, when his winless side host Roma at Old Trafford in round four of the Champions League league phase. Asked by TNT Sports on Saturday whether he would be there, Carrick said: "Yeah."

United have gone nine matches without a win in all competitions, their longest such run since September 1984. The latest was a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday, where defender Lisandro Martinez was sent off, after a 3-0 home loss to Bournemouth on 25 October. Sky Sports noted that the last time United went winless through their first seven away games of a season was 1973-74, the year they went down. BBC Sport reported on 27 October that the club had chosen to give Carrick more time, and suggested that the Roma tie and the Aston Villa game on 8 November, both before a two-week international break, would be the obvious point to reassess. BBC Sport also said Martinez will miss the Villa game through suspension.

In the 36-team table United are 20th on three points, one of 12 clubs level on that total, and the cut-off after 24th place splits those clubs in half. Roma are 15th on four points, two behind eighth-placed Barcelona; the top eight go straight to the last 16, while places nine to 24 go into the knockout play-offs.

United opened with a 4-0 home win over Sabah, then lost 2-0 at Atlético Madrid and 4-1 at Como on 21 October, a night BBC Sport ranked among the worst European nights in the club's history. Roma drew 1-1 at Fenerbahçe, lost 4-3 at home to Real Madrid and beat Slovan Bratislava 4-0 on 20 October. Roma's eight league-phase goals are three more than United's five.

Roma arrive with the highest-scoring attack in Serie A: 28 goals in ten games, according to our table, after a 5-2 win at Udinese on Saturday. They are third on 24 points, one behind Lazio and Inter. Coach Gian Piero Gasperini said: "The numbers count and they say something. As well as scoring plenty of goals, we do it with plenty of different players." He also admitted a dip after leading 4-0: "I think it's normal, at 4-0 and with the Manchester game around the corner, to drop off a bit."

Roma have also been without four players, and Saturday was their eighth game in under 20 days. On who could be back before the next break, Gasperini said that in theory all four could, "but also none", Gazzetta dello Sport reported. Sky Sport Italia quoted him calling it "very difficult" to get three of the injured players back by then, "but I hope", and adding: "This week will be the decisive one."