Jose Mourinho, like David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal before him, appears to have fallen victim to the Fergie curse, and defeats to Brighton and Tottenham Hotspur have ramped up the pressure on the self-proclaimed Special One.

We slashed the odds on Mourinho being the next top-flight manager sacked from 7/1 to 9/2 favourite last week – and have now paid out on the market.

He’s 5/4 to leave his position before Christmas and odds-on (4/9) to depart Old Trafford this season.

United, meanwhile, are hugely odds-on to win NO trophies this season (1/5), and have slipped to fifth in the betting to finish in the top four (11/10).

Zinedine Zidane (2/1) is the favourite to succeed Mourinho, ahead of Monday night’s adversary Mauricio Pochettino (6/1).

Spokesman Paddy Power said: “It feels as though Jose Mourinho has been digging his own grave for the last few months and, already this season, his Manchester United career seems dead and buried.

“I doubt there’d be much mourning, or a funeral, at Old Trafford if and when Mourinho is sacked – the only procession in Manchester this season is City’s to the title.”