22 Sept 2021
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These two went to penalties in last season’s Europa League final and Villarreal can’t stop drawing games, also going to penalties in the UEFA Super Cup and drawing six of seven La Liga and Champions League games since then.
That includes their clash with Atalanta in their group opener, as well as domestic stalemates with both Atletico and Real Madrid, with that last result coming at the weekend in an even tussle.
Man Utd began the season with three wins from four unbeaten games and there was genuine excitement building with the summer acquisitions of Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo. However, they’ve since lost three of four outings and while there were mitigating circumstances in their defeat to Young Boys following Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s first-half red card, when leading at the time, their last two appearances have seen them go down 1-0 to both West Ham and Newcastle.
Despite some impressive signings, there remains a strong sense that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer isn’t up to the job and especially with regards to his in-game decisions.
His record in Europe is nothing special, as against the better teams he’s encountered during his time at the helm (Barcelona, PSG, Leipzig, Milan, Roma, Real Sociedad, Sevilla and Villarreal), he’s only managed a W6-D3-L7 record.
That includes just two wins from seven home games, as well as just the single victory from six clashes with Spanish outfits.
Man United And Villarreal To Draw
Villarreal have been regulars in the Europa League and won 12 of 15 unbeaten matches in last season’s successful campaign, but they last reached the Champions League group stages back in 2011/12, where they lost all six encounters with Napoli, Bayern and Man City.
However, they’ll expect to prove more competitive here, especially as Man Utd have won by more than a single goal just twice in 13 competitive outings going back into May.
Both sides have some missing players to contend with here. Aside from wide men Marcus Rashford and Amad Diallo, Solskjaer has a bigger problem as he could be without three of his first choice back four.
Wan-Bissaka is suspended, while Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire are both major doubts, so there should be appearances for Alex Telles, Victor Lindelof and Diogo Dalot.
Villarreal were without attackers Gerard Moreno, Samuel Chukwueze and Dani Raba against Real Madrid at the weekend, while Yeremi Pino came off late on in that clash.
With that in mind, Paco Alcacer will carry the main attacking threat, and further back Francis Coquelin will miss out having seen red against Atalanta.
PREDICTION:
MAN UNITED AND VILLARREAL TO DRAW
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