FC Zorya v Man Utd preview: Jose Mourinho's men need a point to qualify

Image: Manchester United players celebrate after beating Feyenoord

Manchester United need just a point against Zorya Luhansk to guarantee their passage to the knockout stages of the Europa League.

United can afford to lose at the Chornomorets Stadium in Odessa, Ukraine (kick-off 6pm GMT), if Feyenoord fail to win while to finish top of Group A, the Reds just need to better Fenerbahce's result. 

The match is set to go ahead after a pitch inspection at 10am local time (8am GMT) on Thursday.

Zorya are certain to finish fourth after failing to win any of their Europa League matches.

However, Jose Mourinho's men have lost eight of their last nine away games in Europe, drawing the other (excluding qualifiers). Another defeat and a Feyenoord win would see United eliminated from the competition.

Advertisement

This video is only available on Skysports.com.
Open to watch

Zorya are based in Luhansk, a city in the eastern most province of Ukraine, but are currently playing their games further west in Odessa due to the ongoing conflict in the region.

Jose Mourinho criticised the pitch at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday evening.

Also See:

Team news

Michael Carrick, Antonio Valencia and Matteo Darmian have been left out of United's trip, while the omission of Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin underlines how far their stock has fallen.

Image: Michael Carrick celebrates after Juan Mata scores the opening goal against Arsenal

Wayne Rooney, suspended domestically for Sunday's defeat at Everton, is part of the travelling squad, so too defender Eric Bailly as he steps up his return from injury.

Carrick, Valencia and Darmian all started in the 1-1 draw with Everton at Goodison Park but have remained in the north west, while Depay and Schneiderlin have been overlooked by Mourinho.

The duo have barely made a first-team impact since the Portuguese's summer arrival and have been strongly linked with an exit next month.

Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw remain unavailable through injury, while Bastian Schweinsteiger was not registered for the Europa League.

Image: Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw of Manchester United remain unavailable

Opta stats

These two sides have met just once in European competition, with Man Utd securing a 1-0 victory on Matchday Two thanks to a Zlatan Ibrahimovic strike.

The Red Devils have won five of the last six European games against Ukrainian opposition (D1).

However, they've won just once in three visits to Ukraine (D2), beating Dynamo Kyiv 4-2 back in October 2007.

Indeed, their run of five successive away European losses is their worst ever run.

Man Utd have conceded in seven consecutive European away games for the first time since February 1965 when they went on a run of nine successive games without a clean sheet.

Rooney has scored in successive European games for the first time since March 2012, he hasn't scored in three or more consecutive European games since March 2010.

Image: Wayne Rooney is back in contention for a start

Charlie Nicholas' prediction

Manchester United are playing better but Jose Mourinho still looks like the angriest man in the world and everything looks taxing.

I don't think this is easy, I really don't. He'll be considering starting Wayne Rooney and he's almost been forced into playing Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Michael Carrick.

The Soccer Saturday lads were suggesting Phil Jones is making a big difference but not in the sense of winning games and Paul Pogba still isn't doing enough.

They actually looked better without Pogba in the EFL Cup and there's never a real fluency with him in the team, unlike when Mkhitaryan and Rooney were playing in the advanced areas in the 4-1 win over West Ham. 

I thought Zlatan Ibrahimovic was different class against Everton but he didn't have the support. He's Eric Cantona in an average team, holding it up with two or three men around him but nobody is running into that space he's creating.

Zorya will think they'll be able to have a go as the home side and that should suit United after they struggled to break down a packed defence in the reverse fixture.

Charlie predicts: 0-1 and Ibrahimovic to score first (15/1 with Sky Bet)

Betting

United are 4/11 with Sky Bet to win all three points in the Ukraine with their opponents 17/2 to cause a major upset. Both Jamie Redknapp and Phil Thompson are backing United to stroll to a 2-0 victory with Wayne Rooney scoring the opening goal - that can be backed at 15/1. If you fancy Mourinho's men to go all the way in the Europa League you can get 5/1 for your money.

Outbrain