Partizan Belgrade welcome Manchester United to the Partizan Stadium as both teams do battle in a crunch top of Group L clash in the Europa League.
Victory for United will send them top whilst whoever loses could slip to third if AZ Alkmaar beats Astana, whereas a draw plus AZ Alkmaar win could leave things tightly poised heading into the return legs.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesLazar Markovic looks set to be Partizan Belgrade’s only absentee with an abductor injury.
Man Utd could have Jesse Lingard available to start after the midfielder travelled with the match squad, following a recent hamstring injury.
Luke Shaw (hamstring), Nemanja Matic (undisclosed), Paul Pogba (ankle), Axel Tuanzebe (hip), Eric Bailly, Timothy Fosu-Mensah (both knee) and Diogo Dalot (groin) are all ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Manchester United are yet to draw against Partizan Belgrade in two previous meetings, with both teams winning their home tie in a semi-final matchup in 1965-66 European Cup (W1, L1).
- This is the first time that Manchester United are facing Serbian competition this century, with their last meeting incidentally being against Partizan Belgrade in April 1966.
- Partizan’s last four meetings with English opposition have come against North London clubs, of which they lost three and held Tottenham to a goalless draw at home in September 2014 (D1, L3).
Prediction
Man Utd are inconsistent in terms of performance but I must say that if they show the same confidence that we saw against Liverpool on Sunday, this could be an easy win for them.
Belgrade however hasn’t been a simple place for English teams to go and get wins at (regardless of whether it’s Partizan or Red Star), so United are going to have to raise their game if want to strengthen their bid to reach the knockouts.
A draw therefore might look the easy option given United’s defensive issues but I do think that they will grind out the win here.
Prediction: Partizan Belgrade 0-1 Manchester United
Result: Partizan Belgrade 0-1 Manchester United
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