Manchester United welcome Saint Etienne to Old Trafford for the first leg of their Round of 32 Europa League tie on Thursday night. With the hosts finding themselves in 6th place in the Premier League and Saint Etienne arriving in England sitting 5th in Ligue 1 and some way off third place, this tournament could be the only path to next seasons Champions League.
Manchester United struggled to qualify for this stage of the competition, having found life tough in their group. Both Fenerbahce and Feyenoord defeated the Red Devils away from home and Jose Mourinho’s team needed to win their final match to ensure qualification, by finishing second in the group. Saint Etienne had no such difficulty in progressing from their group, topping it with 12 points and remaining undefeated throughout. On that basis, this should be a close tie and much may depend on what happens in this first leg.
The main reason Manchester United are still in the Europa League this season is their home form and they won all three of their group matches at Old Trafford. During those three games, Mourinho’s team scored 9 goals conceded only 1, which is a good record and something they will want to maintain. Domestically, Manchester United have kept seven clean sheets in their last ten matches and five in their last six at home, which suggests they are going to be very difficult to beat. On this basis, everything points to a Manchester United win to nil.
Saint Etienne travel to Manchester with the second best defensive record in Ligue 1 this season, only Paris Saint-Germain can boast a better one. The French outfit produced their best form of the group stages when playing away from home and picked up 7 out of 9 points on the road. Therefore, they will have no worries about playing away from home in Europe. However, this match will be a step up in class in comparison to the other teams Saint Etienne have faced in the Europa League this season and their defensive record on their travels in Europe has not been good. In their three group games, they conceded 4 goals in total, including at least one in each match. This suggests Manchester United should be able to break them down during the 90 minutes and get at least one goal.
There is no doubt Saint Etienne will arrive at Old Trafford in a defensive frame of mind and will hope to remain in the tie for the second leg. This will mean the onus will be on Manchester United to break down the visitors and this has not proved to be easy for them at times this season.
Expect Manchester United to win this game but not by the wide margin they enjoyed against Fenerbahce and Feyenoord in the group stages. However, if they can win to nil and take a lead to France, they will be happy. Manchester United to win and under 2.5 goals or Manchester United to win to nil are the best bets for this match.