Manchester United vs. Real Sociedad Betting Tips: Back the Red Devils to edge this one
Thursday night football is back! The Europa League begins on Thursday 8th Sept and there are a huge 16 matches taking place over the evening. We have odds on site for all the matches but we have asked our writer Adam Roberts to take a look at the big match from Old Trafford between Manchester United and Real Sociedad and he's picked out his best two bets for you to scan over.
Manchester United vs. Real Sociedad Tips
Erik ten Hag seems to have overcome a difficult start to his Manchester United managerial career, in which he lost his first two games, sat bottom of the league and was humiliated in a 4-0 loss against Brentford. Since that day ETH has made some brave calls - dropping his captain Harry Maguire and star player Cristiano Ronaldo to the bench- as well as being backed heavily in the transfer window, bringing in the likes of Malacia, Casemiro and Antony. The Dutch coach has been rewarded with a series of victories and performances that has brought the good times back to Old Trafford. Wins over Liverpool and Arsenal in particular will have the fans on the Stretford End singing ten Hag's name. A Europa League group game gives ten Hag a chance to rotate his squad and give some of the bit part squad players a chance to prove their worth.
Here, United come up against a Sociedad team that sit down in 9th in La Liga after a mixed start, combining two narrow wins over bottom three clubs with a draw against Atletico and a battering from Barca. Imanol Alguacil will be keen to show that his side belong at the big boys' table against one of the powerhouse teams in Europe.
Team news
As mentioned, it's highly likely ETH will rotate his squad here and Marcus Rashford and Lisandro Martinez will not be risked, having picked up knocks on Sunday against Arsenal. If Donny van der Beek and Aaron-Wan Bissaka recover from injury in time then they could feature here. Casemiro, Maguire and Ronaldo should all start.
Alguacil is without Mikel Oyarzabal, Martín Merquelanz through injury, while Diego Rico remains a last-minute decision.
One man who should be retained in the starting line up is €100m new boy Antony. The 22-year-old Brazilian had a debut to remember on Sunday, scoring once, letting off three shots with two on target. I'm taking him to repeat that stat line of 2+ SoT on Thursday night against Sociedad and that will be our main bet of the night. Antony scored 12 goals in all comps last year and clearly has an eye for goal.
Our 2nd pick is for the Red Devils to win on the night and there to be under 2.5 goals. United have won four straight but this will be a very different team than the one that lined up against the Gunners on Sunday. United have won two of their last three by a single goal while Real have seen under 2.5 goals land in four of their last five games in all comps. I can see Man U winning this one but I think it will be a tight affair.
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