Despite slumping to an eighth-placed finish in the Premier League last season, Man United are competing in the Europa League for the seventh time since it was rebranded in 2009 after winning the FA Cup final against rival, Manchester City, in May.
The Red Devils have since experienced a mixed start to the new campaign, winning three, losing three and drawing one of their seven matches across all competitions, following up back-to-back wins over Southampton (3-0) and Barnsley (7-0) with a goalless stalemate at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.
Man United will now shift their focus to the Europa League and their first of eight matches in the newly-expanded 36-team competition, with an opening fixture at home to FC Twente on today followed by encounters with Porto, Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce, PAOK, Bodo/Glimt, Viktoria Plzen, Rangers and FCSB.
The Red Devils, who have lost just one of their last 24 home matches in the Europa League, will fancy their chances of success on matchday one against Twente and are among the bookmakers’ favourites go all the way and win this year’s competition for the second time in their history since their triumph in 2016-17.
FC Twente finished as high as third in the Eredivisie standings last season for the first time in a decade and have since picked up 11 points from their opening six top-flight games in the new campaign, winning their last two matches against Heerenveen and Almere City.
Sitting fourth in the Eredivisie table and seven points behind perfect leaders, PSV Eindhoven, Twente have now turned their attention to their first European campaign since competing in the 2012-13 Europa League group stage. They missed out on Champions League qualification earlier this term after losing 5-4 on aggregate to Red Bull Salzburg in the third qualifying round.
Joseph Oosting has been Twente’s head coach since July 2023, winning 27 of his 48 games in charge, and he is tasked with ending the club’s seven-game winless run in the Europa League at the Theatre of Dreams on Wednesday.
Success against English opposition has been hard to come by for the Tukkers over the years, though, as they have won just one of their previous 13 such meetings across all competitions a narrow 1-0 home win over Fulham in the 2011-12 Europa League group stage.
Despite keeping three successive clean sheets, Ten Hag may consider freshening up his defence, with Harry Maguire an option to replace either Matthijs de Ligt or Lisandro Martinez at centre-back, while either Manuel Ugarte or Casemiro could start in midfield at the expense of Kobbie Mainoo or Christian Eriksen.
Sem Steijn has been a standout performer for Twente so far this term, scoring seven goals in eight games across all competitions, and the 22-year-old is expected to operate in the number 10 role behind former Rangers striker Sam Lammers.–SportsMole
Today Fixtures
AZ vs Elfsborg
Bodo/Glimt vs Porto
Anderlecht vs Ferencvaros
Dynamo Kiev vs Lazio
Galatasaray vs PAOK
Ludogorets vs Slavia Prague
Midtjylland vs Hoffenheim
Nice vs Real Sociedad
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