Real Betis v Man Utd predictions: Resilient Red Devils can maintain their advantage

Where to watch Real Betis v Man Utd

BT Sport 1, 5.45pm Thursday

Best bet

Draw
1pt 13-5 Betfair, Paddy Power

Real Betis v Man Utd odds

Betis 11-4
Man Utd 21-20
Draw 13-5

Odds correct at time of publish

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Real Betis v Man Utd team news

Real Betis
Luiz Felipe (hamstring) and Nabil Fekir (knee) are ruled out.

Manchester United
Alejandro Garnacho (ankle) has joined Christian Eriksen and Donny van de Beek on the sidelines. Anthony is also out with an illness but Victor Lindelof and Marcel Sabitzer are in the travelling squad.

Real Betis v Man Utd predictions

Manchester United have one foot in the Europa League quarter-finals after last week's convincing 4-1 victory at home to Real Betis and they can maintain their three-goal advantage with a draw at Estadio Benito Villamarin.

Erik ten Hag has been reluctant to tinker too much with his starting line-ups and he went with a strong side for the opening leg.

With a three-goal buffer in place and a Premier League trip to Brighton to consider on Sunday, Ten Hag may be more open to the idea of making changes although his top priority will be to deny Betis any hint of encouragement.

Betis were largely outplayed in the opening leg and extremely fortunate to be level at the break although their 32nd-minute goal from Leicester loanee Ayoze Perez was a thing of beauty.

Perez got the nod up front at Old Trafford ahead of Borja Iglesias, who has scored 11 of Betis's 33 La Liga goals. 

The duo started together in Sunday's 1-1 draw at Villarreal and they could keep their places as vastly experienced Betis manager Manuel Pellegrini plots a route back into the tie. 

Pellegrini will be unable to call on high-quality attacker Nabil Fekir, who is ruled out for the rest of the season, and his team should not have enough in their armoury to threaten a sensational fightback.

United's task is to remain focused, keep mistakes to a minimum and try to take one of the opportunities which present themselves on the counter-attack.

However, there are likely to be a few tired legs in the Red Devils' camp after Sunday's hard-fought 0-0 draw at home Southampton and another stalemate looks a distinct possibility.

Key stat

Real Betis have drawn two of their last three matches

Probable teams

Real Betis (4-2-3-1): Bravo; Sabaly, Pezzella, Ruiz, Abner; Rodriguez, Carvalho; Luiz Henrique, Ayoze, Juanmi; Borja Iglesias.
Subs: Rui Silva, Joaquin, Canales, Guardado, Ruibal, Willian, Gonzalez, Miranda, Rodri.

Man Utd (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro, Fred; Sancho, Fernandes, Rashford; Weghorst.
Subs: Heaton, McTominay, Maguire, Malacia, Wan-Bissaka, Pellistri, Lindelof, Elanga, Sabitzer.

Inside info

Real Betis

Penalty taker Borja Iglesias
Assist ace Borja Iglesias
Set-piece aerial threat Borja Iglesias
Card magnet Guido Rodriguez

Man Utd

Penalty taker Marcus Rashford/Bruno Fernandes
Assist ace Bruno Fernandes
Set-piece aerial threat Wout Weghorst
Card magnet Casemiro

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