The 2018–19 season was Manchester United's 27th season in the Premier League and their 44th consecutive season in the top flight of English football. The season was the first since 2005–06 without club captain Michael Carrick, who retired after the 2017–18 season and joined the club's coaching staff.^[1] Assistant manager Rui Faria left the club at the conclusion of that season, with Carrick and Kieran McKenna replacing him as the club's first-team coaches.^[2]

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Manchester United

2018–19 season
Co-chairmen	Joel and Avram Glazer
Manager	José Mourinho (until 18 December) Ole Gunnar Solskjær (from 19 December as caretaker; from 28 March as permanent manager)
Stadium	Old Trafford
Premier League	6th
FA Cup	Quarter-finals
EFL Cup	Third Round
UEFA Champions League	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Paul Pogba (13 goals) All: Paul Pogba (16 goals)
Highest home attendance	74,556 (vs. Bournemouth, 30 December)
Lowest home attendance	55,227 (vs. Derby County, 25 September)
Average home league attendance	74,498
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

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A disappointing Premier League campaign saw the club finish in sixth place. United were also eliminated early in the EFL Cup, losing on penalties to Championship side Derby County in the third round. The club reached the quarter-final stage of both the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League, but were eliminated by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Barcelona respectively. This resulted in United's first consecutive trophyless seasons in 30 years. On 5 May 2019, following a draw at bottom-placed Huddersfield Town, United confirmed their place in the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, making it the fourth time they had finished outside of the top four in the league since 2014.

On 18 December 2018, with just seven wins in the first 17 league games, manager José Mourinho was sacked. His last game, two days earlier, ended in a 3–1 defeat to Liverpool.^[3] The following day, former United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær was appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season, assisted by former coach Mike Phelan, who had left the club in 2013 following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson.^[4] On 28 March 2019, Solskjær became full-time manager.^[5]

United preceded their 2018–19 campaign with a tour of the United States. The first three games were announced on 3 April 2018, with the opposition provided by Club América, San Jose Earthquakes and Liverpool.^[6] The club later announced that the tour would see them compete in the International Champions Cup.^[7] In the 2018 competition, United played against Milan at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, Liverpool at the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Real Madrid at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.^[8] Alexis Sánchez's arrival in the United States was delayed as he was not issued with a visa due to the 16-month suspended jail sentence he accepted in February for tax fraud during his time in Spain.^[9] The final pre-season game saw Manchester United play away to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on 5 August.^[10]

As one of the 20 teams in the Premier League, Manchester United entered the FA Cup in the Third Round. The draw was made on 3 December 2018 and paired United with Reading, whom they had faced at the same stage two seasons earlier, when they won 4–0.^[57] United won the match 2–0; Juan Mata opened the scoring from the penalty spot after the video assistant referee ruled that Omar Richards had tripped Juan Mata in the penalty area, and another goal from Romelu Lukaku. 19-year-old winger Tahith Chong made his FA Cup debut, replacing Juan Mata in the 62nd minute.^[58] The draw for the Fourth Round was made on 7 January 2019 and United were drawn away to Arsenal;^[59] the last time the two sides had met in the FA Cup was in the Sixth Round of the 2014–15 season, when Arsenal won 2–1 at Old Trafford.^[60] This time Manchester United won 3–1; two goals in two minutes from former Arsenal forward Alexis Sánchez and Jesse Lingard put United 2–0 up with just over half an hour played, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang got one back for the Gunners shortly before half-time. Anthony Martial then came off the bench to seal the win for United with their third goal in the 82nd minute.^[61] The draw for the Fifth Round was made on 28 January 2019 and United were drawn away to Chelsea, whom they had faced in the final the previous season.^[62] Goals from Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera before half-time sealed a 2–0 win for United.^[63] They were then drawn away to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the quarter-finals. Goals from Raúl Jiménez and Diogo Jota gave Wolves a 2–1 win and a place in the semi-finals, with Marcus Rashford scoring a consolation goal for United in the 95th minute.^[64]

The draw for the third round of the EFL Cup was made on 30 August 2018, with Manchester United drawn at home to Derby County.^[69] United took the lead just three minutes in through Juan Mata, but an equaliser from Harry Wilson was followed by a red card for United keeper Romero. Marriot gave Derby the lead with five minutes to go, but Marouane Fellaini’s stoppage-time strike ensured penalties; however Derby won 8-7 on spot kicks.^[70]

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No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	David de Gea	38	0	0	0	0	0	9	0	47	0	1	0
2	DF	Victor Lindelöf	29(1)	1	3	0	0	0	7	0	39(1)	1	3	0
3	DF	Eric Bailly	8(4)	0	1	0	1	0	4	0	14(4)	0	1	1
4	DF	Phil Jones	15(3)	0	1(1)	0	1	0	3	0	20(4)	0	1	0
6	MF	Paul Pogba	34(1)	13	3	1	0	0	8(1)	2	45(2)	16	7	1
7	FW	Alexis Sánchez	9(11)	1	2(1)	1	0	0	2(2)	0	13(14)	2	3	0
8	MF	Juan Mata	16(6)	3	2(1)	1	1	1	2(4)	1	21(11)	6	3	0
9	FW	Romelu Lukaku	22(10)	12	3	1	1	0	6(3)	2	32(13)	15	5	0
10	FW	Marcus Rashford	26(7)	10	2(2)	1	0	0	8(2)	2	36(11)	13	6	1
11	FW	Anthony Martial	18(9)	10	1(1)	1	1	0	6(2)	1	26(12)	12	3	0
12	DF	Chris Smalling	24	1	2	0	0	0	8	0	34	1	2	0
13	GK	Lee Grant	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0	0
14	MF	Jesse Lingard	19(8)	4	2	1	1	0	4(2)	0	26(10)	5	6	0
15	MF	Andreas Pereira	6(9)	1	1(2)	0	0	0	2(2)	0	9(13)	1	5	0
16	DF	Marcos Rojo	2(3)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3(3)	0	2	0
17	MF	Fred	13(4)	1	1	0	0(1)	0	6	0	20(5)	1	3	0
18	DF	Ashley Young	28(2)	2	3	0	1	0	6(1)	0	38(3)	2	13	1
20	DF	Diogo Dalot	12(4)	0	2	0	1	0	2(2)	0	17(6)	0	4	0
21	MF	Ander Herrera	16(6)	2	3	1	1	0	2	0	22(6)	3	7	0
22	GK	Sergio Romero	0	0	4	0	1	0	1	0	6	0	0	1
23	DF	Luke Shaw	29	1	3	0	0	0	8	0	40	1	14	0
24	DF	Timothy Fosu-Mensah	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	DF	Antonio Valencia (c)	5(1)	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	8(1)	0	4	0
27	MF	Marouane Fellaini	6(8)	0	0(1)	0	0(1)	1	3(2)	1	9(12)	2	1	0
31	MF	Nemanja Matić	28	1	3	0	1	0	6	0	38	1	12	1
36	DF	Matteo Darmian	5(1)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	6(1)	0	0	0
37	MF	James Garner	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0	0
38	DF	Axel Tuanzebe	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
39	MF	Scott McTominay	9(7)	2	1(2)	0	0	0	3	0	13(9)	2	1	0
40	GK	Joel Castro Pereira	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
44	FW	Tahith Chong	0(2)	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0(4)	0	1	0
45	GK	Kieran O'Hara	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
46	FW	Joshua Bohui	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
47	MF	Angel Gomes	0(2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(2)	0	0	0
48	MF	Ethan Hamilton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
51	GK	Matěj Kovář	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
53	DF	Brandon Williams	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
54	FW	Mason Greenwood	1(2)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	1(3)	0	0	0
59	DF	Lee O'Connor	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Own goals			—	0	—	0	—	0	—	1	—	1	—	—

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Statistics accurate as of 12 May 2019.^[87]