AZ Alkmaar vs Manchester United Predictions

AZ Alkmaar’s return to the Europa League group stages began in thrilling fashion last month as they played out a 2-2 draw with Partizan Belgrade. Considering they went down to 10 men partway through the first half, gathering a point from this tough fixture can be considered a big success for the Eredivisie side.

Now, they will be looking to take advantage of Manchester United’s poor recent form and take some points off the group favourites. However, we’re not expecting another thriller like the one we saw in Serbia.

In fact, despite the Eredivisie’s generally high scoring nature, AZ have only seen 3 or more goals in half of their last 10 Europa League fixtures. They have the same record at home too, and as we all know Manchester United aren’t the most fluent attacking side right now.

The visitors played out another dismal 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Monday, following on from a penalty shootout win over Rochdale in the League Cup and a dreadful defeat at the hands of West Ham. It’s time for yet another crisis at Old Trafford, and Monday’s result saw them drop to 10th in the Premier League table.

Manchester United’s Europa League campaign, however, did begin with a victory. They sit at the top of their group, but their 1-0 slog against Astana was hardly an exciting watch. For the neutrals thinking of tuning in to watch this match, it’s not looking particularly promising from an entertainment standpoint.

The Red Devils haven’t seen more than 2 goals scored in an Europa League match since February 2017, with an average of just 1.55 goals per game since then. This covers a period of 9 fixtures, all of which have ended with fewer than 3 goals scored in total.

Once again, the visitors are expected to be hit by injury up front. The likelihood is that teenage striker Mason Greenwood will be deployed as the main striker, and with little creative spark to support him we think backing Under 2.5 Goals is the most valuable option here.

We’re expecting AZ Alkmaar to get something from this match too. Manchester United have won just 3 of their last 10 Europa League away days, and 2 of their last 3 have ended as 1-1 draws. We’re expecting the same again, so backing a 1-1 correct score prediction looks a good option.