Pravir Singh
It’s a crucial game for Manchester United as they welcome Danish side Midtjylland in the second leg of their Europa League tie. A 2-1 loss in a shockingly poor away performance gives the Danes a slight edge however United do have the all important away goal. A tie that Manchester United should have sailed through now sees them needing a win to go through. They’re ridiculously inconsistent and hardly pose a threat anymore. Injuries haven’t helped them either with 13 players out. They did put in a much better performance against Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup on Monday night, cruising to a comfortable 3-0 victory.
The next two games are critical for United and they’re going to decide whether they’re still in with a chance of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. The team news is not good however. Luke Shaw, Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia and Marcos Rojo are the long term injuries. Since then they’ve been joined by Bastian Schweinsteiger, Phil Jones, Marouane Fellaini, Matteo Darmian, Wayne Rooney, Adnan Januzaj, David De Gea and most recently Will Keane and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson. There is some good news however, as Van Gaal suggested De Gea should be fit to play on Thursday. His deputy Romero has done well in his absence though.
United should be able to secure qualification and these are three key battles that may decide the game:
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Chris Smalling vs Martin Pusic
Even though United dominated majority of the game in the first leg, it was Midtjylland who had the better chances thanks to some shaky defending at times. Smalling has been resolute for United so far and has done a good job holding the defence together. He also has the confidence of a goal behind him opening the scoring against Shrewsbury Town. Martin Pusic has been one of Midtjylland’s main men so far. However he failed to make much of an impact in the first leg. He’ll be looking to extend his goal tally at Old Trafford.
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Daley Blind vs Pione Sisto
With Borthwick-Jackson going off injured on Monday night, it means Daley Blind will probably shift to left back. Although he’s done a decent job playing there in the past, he lacks pace which can often be a problem especially when United need their fullbacks to make overlapping runs. Pione Sisto is the much talked about man and he made a good impression in the first leg scoring the equalizer. He’ll look to take on Daley Blind and cause plenty of problems with his skill and guile.
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Anthony Martial vs Nikolay Bodurov
Although goalless in the last two, Martial has posed United’s biggest threat so far this season. He’s constantly put in the performances when the rest of the team has been lacklustre. However, he do didn’t do enough in the first leg. If Midtylland was to pull off a massive upset, they’ll have to stop Martial. A lot of that will be in the hands of Nikolay Bodurov. He’s a hard tackler and makes a lot of interceptions. It will be a great test for the Bulgarian international on Thursday night.
