Manchester United vs FC Astana Predictions

Manchester United’s mid-season surge towards the Premier League top 4 came to a swift end last season, and their disastrous end to the league campaign saw them fall behind in the race for Champions League qualification.

The resulting 6th place finish sends them back to the Europa League, and with so much emphasis being placed on the top flight this season it’s likely we’ll see some heavy rotation from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this season.

It’s been a strange start to the season for the Red Devils. They kicked off with a 4-0 demolition of Chelsea, although that scoreline was rather flattering to the winners in the end. What followed was 2 draws against Wolves and Southampton sandwiching a shock defeat at home to Crystal Palace. They got back to winning ways against Leicester at the weekend, and while their performances show a lot more solidity at the back, there is a distinct lack of quality in the final third.

Indeed, Manchester United’s major issue this season has been finding that final product, and the issue is reflected in their scoring stats – They have netted just 4 times in the last 4 games, so we could be in for another low scoring affair on Thursday.

Realistically, Astana shouldn’t pose much of a threat to the Manchester United back line. The Kazakhstan club only qualified for the first time in 2013 and have made it out of the group stages just once before.

The visitors have lost 5 of their 9 Europa League group stage away games and won just twice. That being said, they do tend to keep a fairly tight ship at the back, conceding just 11 goals in their last 10 Europa League away days.

Manchester United’s improved defence should be enough to limit an Astana side that has only scored 12 times in their last 10 away games in the competition, but a rotated squad could further hamper their laboured efforts in front of goal. Each of Manchester United’s last 8 Europa League games have seen fewer than 3 goals, so we think backing a low scoring game is a good choice here.

In the end, the hosts should have the ability to find a way through on Thursday. They have kept a clean sheet in 6 of these 8 Europa League games, so a 2-0 correct score prediction looks promising.