Real Sociedad vs. Manchester United Betting Tips: Back Brais Mendez in the Shots Market

Manchester United travel to Spain to take on Real Sociedad on Thursday evening in the Europa League, with the Spanish side currently three points ahead of United in the Group E table. We’ve previewed the action and provided you with two bets we like the look of.

Imanol Alguacil’s Real Sociedad side currently possess a perfect record in the Europa League this season, with five wins from five. This means that they need to collect at least a point from Thursday evening’s game to ensure top spot. The Spanish side are the only team left in the competition to have won all five of their Group fixtures and they came out 1-0 winners against Manchester United when the two met at Old Trafford back in September.

Since that game, United have improved drastically after some worrying defeats to Brentford and Brighton. Erik ten Hag’s men are unbeaten in their last eight matches (W6 L2), and arrive here off the back of a 1-0 win over West Ham on Sunday in the Premier League. 

The home side have several injury concerns ahead of this game, with Mikel Oyarzabel, Ander Martin, David Silva and Umar Sadiq all confirmed absentees. For the visitors, Alejandro Garnacho may be handed another start after impressing on his full debut against Sheriff Tiraspol last week, with Cristiano Ronaldo also expected to feature from the off.

The first selection we are touting on Thursday evening comes from the shots market, where we have taken a lean towards Real Sociedad attacker Brais Mendez. The 25-year-old has managed five La Liga goals in just 12 appearances this season and has also scored in Europa League Omonia Nicosia and against Manchester United in the 1-0 win for Sociedad in August.

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When it comes to shots, Mendez has let off more than any other player for Sociedad, with an average of 2.3 per game in La Liga and 2.2 per game in the Europa League. In all competitions, Mendez has cleared this line of over 1.5 shots in six of his last seven appearances for the Spaniards, and looking back even further his record reads 2+ shots in 12 of his 17 matches he has featured in.

Our second bet of the evening features two selections from the Shots on Target market, where we are fancying Cristiano Ronaldo to have Over 1.5 Shots on Target and Brais Mendez to have Over 0.5. 

This equates to a 3/1 poke via the bet365 Bet Builder feature, and with the opportunity for United to finish top of the group here we expect them to put in a strong showing with Ronaldo spearheading the attack. In his last three Europa League matches, Ronaldo has recorded shot totals of 8,7 & 7 and he has cleared this line of Over 1.5 in two of those. 

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We’ve already spoken about Brais Mendez above and we are including him to have Over 0.5 Shots on Target in this double with Ronaldo. In his last 12 appearances for Sociedad, Mendez has registered at least one shot on target in 10 of those. He’s also the penalty taker for his side and with Sociedad averaging 19 shots per game at home in this competition we think he could get a good few chances in this match. 

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