Manchester United will travel to face off against Group E leaders Real Sociedad on Thursday night. Erik Ten Hag will no doubt look to field a strong team in order to top the group.
If the Red Devils can win by a scoreline of two or more goals then they will move top of the group. This will avoid the possibility of having to face one of the teams dropping out of the Champions League in a play-off to reach the round of 16.
Good form
After a rather humbling 6-3 loss in the Manchester derby, Ten Hag’s side displayed strong mentality and have brushed aside Premier League opponents, including the likes of Tottenham and West Ham. Since the derby defeat United have gone unbeaten in their eight games across all competitions, with six wins and two draws coming against Newcastle United and Chelsea.
With just four games left before the international break for the World Cup, United should be looking at winning all of those upcoming matches. Arguably the toughest of those comes this week against Sociedad, although facing Aston Villa in back-to-back Premier League and League Cup fixtures brings a unique challenge.
United need to win this game and win it comfortably. As if not we could be facing a very tough play-off against one of the teams dropping down from the Champions League. This includes the likes of Barcelona, Juventus and Atletico Madrid.
Predicted Line-up
The defence has been solid of late and almost picks itself. Malacia for Luke Shaw is purely from a rotational point of view although this could go either way. Partnering Martinez, we will most likely see Maguire with Varane injured in the Chelsea game and Lindelof not making the squad last weekend due to illness.
Again the midfield speaks for itself and this represents our strongest possible combination. As for the forward line, Antony did not feature at the weekend due to a minor injury and so could miss out again. Martial is seemingly out still. And after not coming off the bench against West Ham, Jadon Sancho will likely feature from the start.
Opposition
The hosts come into this game with reasonably strong form, having four wins and two losses in their last six games in all competitions. But those two defeats were their most recent league results having lost 2-0 at home to Real Betis and 1-0 away to Real Valladolid the week before.
Any result for the Spanish side would see them top the group and avoid those dreaded play-offs to progress to the round of 16.
Sociedad have a number of injuries to key players coming into this game, including Alexander Sorloth, who has two goals and an assist in this Europa League campaign so far.
Score Predictions
We’re going optimistic for this midweek clash with a 2-0 United win. Our defence has looked solid recently and there is no reason why this should be any different. If everyone is firing at their best we should be able to nullify Sociedad’s threat whilst creating plenty of chances of our own. Sancho to get back on the scoresheet would be brilliant and another for Rashford to build on a good performance at the weekend.