Man Utd vs Atalanta: Visitors to rack up the shots at Old Trafford

Manchester United welcome Atalanta to Old Trafford on Wednesday night off the back of a, quite frankly, dreadful run of games in which they’ve struggled for any sort of consistency.

The Red Devils have won just two of their last seven fixtures in all competitions - neither of which they deserved to win, relying on late goals from Jesse Lingard and Cristiano Ronaldo against West Ham and Villarreal respectively - which has seen them fall five points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea and get knocked out of the League Cup in just the Third Round.

It has seen pressure mount on manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, especially given the manner of their 4-2 defeat at Leicester on Saturday, who will be desperate for his side to get things right against their Italian opposition and kickstart their Champions League campaign.

An opening matchday loss to Young Boys, followed by the aforementioned late Ronaldo winners against a Villarreal side that dominated the game at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ have hardly got United fans dreaming of lifting the trophy in Saint Petersburg come next May.

Whilst it seems that the hosts have a bit of an identity problem at the minute, they come up against an Atalanta side that know exactly who they are and have been coached magnificently by Gian Piero Gasperini.

Though they are already 10 points behind perfect league leaders Napoli, they top Group F with four points from their opening pair of games and haven’t lost away from home since defeat at Real Madrid in March. In fact, they won all three of their Champions League group matches last season - including a 2-0 victory at Liverpool - picking up nine of their 11 points away from Bergamo.

If they are to win here, they’ll have to do so without electric wing-back Robin Gosens who made a real name for himself at the European Championships over the summer. He limped out of their 1-0 win over Young Boys in the last round of games after just 10 minutes, and was deputised by another player that enjoyed Euro 2020, Joakim Maehle. La Dea will also be without Hans Hateboer, Matteo Pessina and Berat Djimsiti for the trip to Manchester.

The hosts, meanwhile, will be able to welcome their South American cohort back for this one - with Fred and Edinson Cavani both available for selection - and Aaron Wan-Bissaka should make his way back into the starting XI after his ban was reduced on appeal.

The game comes too soon for French duo Raphael Varane and Anthony Martial though, while former Atalanta man Amad Diallo - who joined the club when he was 13 - will play no part against his old side.

Taking charge of this one is Polish referee Szymon Marciniak, who most recently officiated Scotland’s thriller with Israel. He gave seven bookings in that game, including two for dissent, and is averaging 4.44 per game in the Polish Estraklasa.

Interestingly, he’s given six penalties in his nine league games this season (and one in his only Champions League outing at Anfield).

Working off the assumption that Paul Pogba will start in a midfield two, this feels like a no brainer. In the four games he’s started at the base of the United midfield (Newcastle, Wolves, Villarreal, and Leicester) they’ve conceded an average of 16 shots per game - including 22 against Leicester at the weekend.

Atalanta, meanwhile, rank 2nd in Serie A for shots per 90 (15.37) and have hit this mark in each of their last five games. They managed 13 and 14 in the Champions League against Villarreal and Young Boys, respectively, and I expect no issues for them here.

Anyone that watched the Euros for more than five minutes over the summer will know all about Joakim Maehle and his attacking exploits. The electric wing-back was one of the keys to Denmark’s success and looks ready to replicate that for his club side in the absence of Robin Gosens.

Since the German was injured in their last round of Champions League fixtures, Maehle has managed six shots and three on target for club and country in five games.

United have rarely faced a back five this season, but when three of the four occasions that they have (against Leicester, Newcastle, and Aston Villa) the opposing left wing-back has found themselves making at least one shot - and none of them have been as forward thinking as Maehle.

No player in the Premier League has made more fouls (26) or picked up more bookings (4) than Paul Pogba so far this season. He’s committed 3.57 fouls per game when starting - which rises to 4.67 per game in a midfield two.

De Roon, on the other hand, has only picked up a single booking in Serie A so far this season but is committing more fouls per 90 (3.50) than any other player in the league. He also has one yellow in his two Champions League starts, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him on the wrong side of Marciniak here.