Manchester United are in Austria to take on LASK in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie on this evening [5.55pm kick-off].
The game has been given the go-ahead despite the global outbreak of Coronavirus but the Austrian government have decided the match will be played behind closed doors so it will be an eerie atmosphere inside the Raiffeisen Arena.
United will be looking to bring home a positive result from the first leg and they should be confident of doing so against LASK as they are currently on a 10-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
The latest impressive result came with a 2-0 victory over Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon which has left Man Utd sitting fifth in the Premier League table – three points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will still be hoping to secure Champions League qualification via the domestic league but winning the Europa League is also a realistic way back into Europe’s top tier so the United boss will be desperate to avoid any slip-up today.
Betting odds
Man Utd are the 3/4 favourites to win the game this evening and that looks like a solid bet to us. If you fancy a shock, LASK are available at odds of 15/4 to win the first leg on home soil while the draw can be backed at 5/2. Our prediction of 1-0 is priced at 5/1 and if we add Ighalo as first goalscorer we can get very tempting odds of 20/1. If you are planning to have a punt, check out the best UK betting offers first as you can get some excellent welcome bonuses and enhanced odds at many bookmakers.
Team news
Manchester United were dealt a blow ahead of the game as Anthony Martial has been ruled out of the game after picking up a knock against City at the weekend. Odion Ighalo is set to start up front.
Paul Pogba has been stepping-up his recovery from an ankle injury and could resume full training next week but this game comes too soon for the Frenchman so he remains on the sidelines.
Marcus Rashford is still unavailable as he’s recovering from a back injury while Jesse Lingard and Diogo Dalot haven’t travelled to Austria so they won’t feature against LASK this evening.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is expected to make some changes to his starting eleven with the likes of Sergio Romero, Eric Bailly, Scott McTominay, Mason Greenwood and Juan Mata pushing for recalls.
As for LASK, they’ll be without Thomas Goiginger and Marvin Potzmann due to knee injuries while Petar Filipovic and Philipp Wiesinger are both suspended.
Expected line-up
Prediction
LASK 0-1 Man Utd: United have conceded just twice in the last 10 games and I expect another solid performance from them at the back this evening. It’s going to be a strange game in an empty stadium so that will no doubt take away some of the intensity so I’m not expecting a classic. However, Man Utd should have too much quality in the end so I’m backing them to bring home a 1-0 win.
