Will Manchester United ramrod Rostov out of the Europa League at 8.05pm on BT Sport 2?

The rather middling nature of United’s season continued on Monday, as Jose Mourinho lost a war of attrition with his old club Chelsea in the FA Cup. A 35th minute red card for Ander Herrera, and the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, meant that the Manchester side were on the back foot for most of the game, managing a mere 27% of possession and just 4 shots to Chelsea’s 20 (even if the Blues could only find the back of the net once).



The closure of another trophy-avenue puts extra pressure on Thursday’s European 2nd leg. For while United have indeed already won the EFL Cup, if that is all they end up with AND they don’t reach the Champions League, Mourinho’s first season in charge could arguably be classed as a failure. And given that they are in 6th place in the Premier League – and haven’t been any higher since mid-September – the club perhaps stands a better chance of qualifying for the continent’s top competition by winning its little brother than through domestic means.

United couldn’t break down Rostov when they visited Russia – to be fair, neither could PSV Eindhoven or Bayern Munich, putting them in good company – leading to their umpteenth 1-1 draw of the season. They did manage to nab that crucial away goal, at least, thanks to the club’s Europa League talisman Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

In terms of Thursday’s selection, Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial are still out through injury and illness, but Ibrahimovic, who sits at a towering Super Mega PGM of 80-92, will return as his FA suspension obviously doesn’t extend to Europe. He will be joined going forward by Marcus Rashford, who just got called up to the England squad, and the aforementioned Mkhitaryan, who sit at Super Mega PGM spreads of 27-32 and 38-44 respectively.

Luckily for Mourinho and co., while Rostov have been fiendishly difficult to beat at home, on the road they are far less efficient, failing to win a single one of their European fixtures not on Russian soil. That means Spreadex are offering a Manchester United/Rostov Goal Supremacy spread of 1.95-2.15 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.85-3.05.