Europa final: Ajax dare Manchester United’s stars in tonight’s epic clash
Manchester United are one of the most successful sides in the history of world football, but there is one competition that has eluded them so far, the Europa League. This Wednesday they get the opportunity to lift the trophy but first they have to get past an Ajax side which is more than capable of upsetting the apple cart.
We are backing both of these sides to go into this match with an attacking philosophy but given they have both shown plenty of vulnerabilities at the back, we are backing both teams to score at 21/20. For our correct score tip we can see this being a match that goes all the way and are backing it to finish in a 2-2 draw after 90 minutes, which you can get at a tasty 18/1.
Jose Mourinho has an exceptional record in winning finals and he will bank on improving that record on Wednesday night. He has won 11 of his 13 finals to date and has already opened his account at Man United, when he oversaw a 3-2 win over Southampton in the League Cup final earlier this season.
The Red Devils may have a bit of an injury crisis but they do have one man still available who has enjoyed the Europa League this term. Henrik Mkhitaryan has five goals from his 10 appearances in the competition and he is 11/2 to score first or 2/1 to score anytime – both of which we will be backing.
It’s been a less smooth ride to the final for the Red Devils and since they comfortably passed Saint-Etienne in the first knockout stage of the competition they have seen four of their six matches finish with both teams finding the back of the net. Mourinho will undoubtedly point to the fact that they have scored in each of their Europa League matches since they failed to score against Feyonoord first time out but with just eight goals from their last seven in the competition there is still plenty left to be proved.
Goals have been a near guarantee for Ajax in the Europa League. Ever since they progressed from the last 32 stage with just a single goal in the two legs against Legia Warsaw, they have had to plough on by outscoring the opposition. They have seen both teams score in four of their last six in the Europa League and those same six matches have seen a total of 21 goals scored.
HEAD TO HEAD
AJAX VS MANCHESTER UNITED STATS
AJAX TEAM NEWS
Young midfielder Daley Sinkgraven looks to be Ajax’s only absentee.
MANCHESTER UNITED TEAM NEWS
Marcos Rojo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luke Shaw and Ashley Young will all miss out because of injury and Eric Bailly is out through suspension. Man United’s troubles don’t end there either as Chris Smalling, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Marouane Fellaini are injury doubts for the clash.
