EUROPA LEAGUE THURSDAY PREVIEW: The first round of the Champions League is in the books, now it is time for the Europa League to get underway. There is plenty of home interest with Southampton and Man United involved, it will be interesting to see what kind of team Jose Mourinho puts out throughout the group stages.
FEYENOORD v MAN UNITED
6.00pm All eyes will be on Man United to see if they will be playing a full strength team or not. The Europa League is definitely not top priority for Jose Mourinho this season, even with a Champions League place up for grabs for the winners. This team’s focus will certainly be more on the domestic league rather than the Europa League, but you would still expect them to do well with periphery players in the squad. Feyenoord will certainly be motivated for this one, as they will feel they have a great chance of qualifying and if man united are under strength the Dutch side could even top group A. They have won all five of their games this season, and are putting up big scorelines in the process. Man United are obviously coming off of a humbling defeat against their city rivals at the weekend, but outside of this game they have looked very impressive this season. Although this is not going to be top priority for Jose Mourinho, players like Rashford reckon to get a great opportunity to show their worth, so there will still be plenty of quality on the pitch. They should have enough depth to see off Feyenoord.
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Back Man United at 1.95.
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SOUTHAMPTON v SPARTA PRAGUE
8.05pm This is a tough opening fixture for a Southampton side who have been under performing so far this season. They are without a win in their four games, and sit in the relegation zone on the Premier League on two points. They face a Sparta Prague side who have only lost one game in this season, which was in their Champions League qualifier. They currently sit second in the Czech League with four wins and a couple of draws. Southampton have been drawn in a pretty difficult group this season with Sparta Prague and Inter Milan, but they will be quietly confident they could grab second place. In order to do so they need to rapidly improve their form, as they have been off the boil since Ronald Koeman’s departure in the off-season. As was the case with Leicester City last night, Europe can be an excellent opportunity to find form as sides get away from their domestic form. Expect something similar from Southampton tonight. Although they have been performing poorly, there is definitely quality in this Southampton side, and the style they play should benefit them in Europe. If they are to progress to the knockout stages they will need to take advantage of their home fixtures, tonight should be a kick start for this side.
BETDAQ BEST BET:
Back Southampton at 1.68.
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