Manchester United – AZ

Manchester United hosts AZ at the Old Trafford in a game from Group L of the Champions League.

Manchester United are approaching this game with the idea to win this group. Right now the Red Devils are leading the standings with 10 points, but just one point ahead of the second AZ. This means that the Dutch team also have the chance to win the group, but only if they achieve a win at the Theatre of Dreams. Tough task, right?

Three wins, one draw and one loss – this is Manchester United’s record in Europa League this season. They suffered their first defeat in the previous round when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s boys suffered a 1-2 loss against Astana in Kazakhstan. In this game Solskjaer put a very experimental team on the pitch and this gave Astana a much bigger chance to win. Which happened at the end.

It’d be interesting to see what the Norwegian manager will decide about this game on Thursday. Against Astana he gave playing chance to lads like Lee Grant, Axel Tuanzebe, Ethan Laird, Dylan Levitt, James Garner and more. Basically he put his U21 team on the pitch. Now we expect to see if Solskjaer is going to pick a stronger team against AZ on Thursday.

AZ are the only unbeaten team in this group at the moment. The Dutchies have a record of two wins and three draws in five games played. For them the most important thing is that they already qualified for the knockout phase – they are four points ahead of the third Partizan. For them this visit to the Old Trafford is a matter of respect and prestigie.

How Manchester United will do against AZ in Europa League on Thursday? This depends entirely on the way Ole Gunnar Solskjaer approaches this match. If he picks his youngsters again, AZ would have a realistic chance to win.