ManchesterUnited’s busy schedule continues this week as they face Club Brugge in thesecond leg of their UEFA Europa League Second Round tie.
Thetwo sides played out a 1-1 draw in Belgium last week, which had no negativeaffect on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side over the weekend as they ran outcomfortable 3-0 winners over Watford in the Premier League.
Victorymoved United up to fifth in the table, overtaking Sheffield United andTottenham Hotspur, but remaining three points behind Chelsea, who occupy thefinal Champions League spot.
Ofcourse, fifth place could be enough to qualify for next season’s competition asManchester City are facing a potential two-year ban from Europe’s elite clubcup competition.
The sports betting sites believe thatthis should be a comfortable win for the English side, with their odds as shortas 1/2 to win in 90 minutes on Thursday.
ManchesterUnited are away to Everton this Sunday in a key battle for that top fourfinish, or even a top five finish. The Toffees are down in 11th butonly five points behind Solskjaer’s side themselves.
Therefore,the Norwegian manager may opt to rotate his squad for the visit of Club Brugge onThursday.
RegularsAnthony Martial, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof and Nemanja Maticall started the first leg, just as they did against Watford on Sunday. All fivecan be expected to face Everton this weekend, which is why we believe they shouldbe rested for the Europa League. Simply put, Champions League qualification viathe league is more important than the Belgian opposition.
Thiswould open up opportunities for the likes of Sergio Romero, Eric Bailly,Brandon Williams, Diogo Dalot, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Mason Greenwood andOdion Ighalo to start.
There’sno doubt that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would fancy some silverware at the end ofthe season, but he must be confident in his rotated side eliminating Club Bruggefrom the Europa League on Thursday.
Thefixture list doesn’t ease up after Everton either as Unitedgo to Derby County in the FA Cup next Thursday too, before hostingManchester City in the Premier League on Sunday. Next week would be anotheropportunity to rotate his squad also, but the Manchester derby and Everton mustbe the manager’s priorities.
Meanwhile,Club Brugge were 1-0 winners over Sporting Charleroi in the Belgian FirstDivision A on Sunday, maintaining their nine-point lead over Gent. They have lostjust one league game this season but are winless in their seven Europeanmatches (D4, L3), since the play-off rounds. Their 2-2 draw against Real Madridat the Santiago Bernabeu was certainly their most impressive result in Europethis season, but they were comfortably beaten 3-1 at home by them, as well asbeing thrashed 5-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League group stage.
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