After a disappointing weekend, Manchester United’s Europa League campaign has a great deal of added importance. With Liverpool winning and Manchester United dropping points at home to Swansea – The Reds best chance of Champions League qualification looks to be through winning the Europa League.
United’s European campaign continues on Thursday night as they travel for their away leg against Celta Vigo. With an ever growing list of injuries in the squad, United will be under added pressure to pick up a positive result against the Spanish side.
In the quarter finals, United needed extra time to see themselves past Anderlecht and had a few worrying moments in the second leg. However, Celta Vigo will also be lacking a bit of confidence heading into the fixture having gone four games without a win – including their 1-1 draw with Genk in the second leg of their quarter final Europa League match.
United are still favourites to pick up an away win on Thursday night, priced at 6/4 to do so. Celta Viga can be backed at 19/20 to take a win to Old Trafford in the reverse fixture – and the draw is available at 2/1.*
Manchester United have a running theme of drawing 1-1 this season, with 11 fixtures ending this way this season. The main issue for United fans is that the side is dominating the majority of these games and failing to capitalise on an abundance of opportunities. However, a 1-1 draw this time out will be a relatively positive result for United, and the bookies has it priced at decent value at 5/1.
On a slightly lighter note for Manchester United, four players returned to training this week ahead of Thursday night fixtures. Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly and Paul Pogba all returned to training this week. Suring up the back line will be key for United heading into the rest of the season. Having three of their main defensive players back on the field will be a massive bonus for Mourinho.
United will again be without Zlatan Ibrahimovic and relying on the pace of Marcus Rashford to threaten in attack. He has proved himself to be a great asset to Jose Mourinho’s team, and he is 5/1 to open the scoring on Thursday night. He can be backed at 5/4 to score in 90 minutes – and 15/2 to bag a brace.*
United will be keen to take a decent win back to Old Trafford in the reverse fixture. In an ideal world, Mourinho would love to seal the tie up in the first leg to give himself the choice of letting players have a rest at Old Trafford. However, cup semi-finals can go either way and a score draw or win would be a great result in the circumstances for Mourinho’s men.
(Prices From Bet on Brazil – odds may fluctuate)
