Valencia vs Manchester United Predictions

Valencia’s 1-0 defeat at Juventus in the last round of Champions League games saw their hopes for progression in the competition die. They are now guaranteed the Europa League qualification that comes with 3rd place in the group, but the 5 points between them and 2nd place is an unbridgeable gap going into the final game of the group stages.

Truth be told, Los Murcielagos are having a dreadful season. Their apparent lack of winning spirit has left them in a disappointing 15th position in the La Liga table, and they are only 7 points clear of the drop zone currently. 9 of their 15 league games have ended as draws, and they have scored a meagre 12 goals in the league.

This lack of goalscoring ability has transferred into the Champions League too. Valencia have only scored 4 goals in their 5 group games so far, and their overly defensive strategy makes for entertainment on a par with watching paint dry.

At times, Manchester United haven’t been much better this season. They managed to put in an excellent performance as they hammered Fulham at the weekend, but all too often they have played  a frustratingly slow style of attacking play. It may not bring results in the Premier League, but in the Champions League they have secured qualification to the knockout stages and still have a small shot at the top spot in Group H.

Jose Mourinho knows that it’s very unlikely that they can take Juventus’ spot at the top. They are 2 points behind them and the Italian champions face the winless Young Boys on Wednesday, so the chances are that we’ll see wholesale changes throughout the visiting team.

We’re expecting this to be a rather dour affair to be honest. Valencia have seen a total of 9 goals in their 5 Champions League group games, and all but one of them has seen fewer than 3 scored in total. Manchester United have seen just 8 goals in their games, and the history between the teams doesn’t make us more optimistic about the entertainment value.

The last 6 competitive meetings between Valencia and Manchester United have yielded just 5 goals in total, and with 18 of Valencia’s 22 competitive games this season ending with fewer than 3 goals scored we’re backing Under 2.5 Goals along with a 1-1 correct score predictions.