The 2019/20 UEFA Europa League resumes this week following a lengthy break due to COVID-19. We are in the knockout phase of the tournament, with some ties in the Round of 16 having played the first leg and these will be concluded by playing the second leg.
One of those ties is between Manchester United and LASK, with the second leg taking place at Old Trafford on the 5th of August.
Manchester United come into the match holding a significant 5-0 lead over the Austrian club. The Red Devils brushed them aside back in March and that was the final game played by the club prior to the suspension of football around Europe. Manchester United went in leading 1-0 at half time but came out with all guns blazing in the second half to score an additional 4 away goals.
That result means Manchester United are undefeated in 8 of their last 9 Europa League games and they have won each of their last 4 matches in the competition at home. In fact, Manchester United are undefeated in their last 13 home games in the Europa League.
Trends show in their last 9 matches in the Europa League, Manchester United have managed to keep a clean sheet on 7 occasions. That includes each of their 4 most recent home games. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team have scored 12 goals across their last 3 home Europa League matches at an average of 4 goals per game.
LASK travel to England knowing they face an impossible task to qualify for the quarter-final of the tournament. They will be extremely disappointed to have lost the first leg 5-0, especially as the score was 2-0 with 10 minutes remaining on the clock. LASK come into the match in poor form having lost all of their final 3 games in the Austrian Bundesliga.
Their season ended back on the 5th of July and they have since played one friendly match which ended in a 2-0 defeat against Senica.
LASK have a solid recent away record in the Europa League having remained undefeated in their last 3 games. They came away from the Netherlands with a 0-0 draw against PSV and a 1-1 draw against AZ. Between those two results LASK picked up a 2-1 victory in Norway against Rosenborg.
Looking ahead to the team news and Manchester United are sure to rest some of their key players for this game. We could see starts for Sergio Romero, Brandon Williams, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Scot McTominay, Daniel James and Odion Ighalo.
LASK travel without the injured quartet of Lukas Grgic, Mamoudou Karamoko, Marvin Potzmann and Thomas Goiginger.
Regardless of the starting XI selected by Manchester United they come into this game as the huge favourites to win and progress to the next round. We expect the hosts to score 2 or more goals and keep a clean sheet.