Man Utd – Olympiakos

Manchester United are facing their biggest match of the year, with Olympiakos standing before them and their last chance to salvage something from this horrendous season. However, United can`t be too confident about their chances after losing 2-0 in Greece, barely creating any goal scoring chances.

The hosts are in deep crisis right now, despite winning 2 of the last 3 Premier League games rather convincingly (2-0 at Crystal Palace, 3-0 at West Brom). But United was destroyed by Liverpool 3-0 at Old Trafford this weekend and could have lost by an even bigger margin, and of course there was the game in Greece two weeks ago when Manchester was simply horrible in a 2-0 losing effort, creating virtually no goal scoring chances over the 90 minutes. However, being already out of all competitions and with a TOP 4 finish in PL out of the question, this is THE game for United and surely Moyes’ lads will come out guns blazing.

Olympiakos is dominating the greek championship this season without any problems, holding an 18 point advantage over the 2nd place. However, much of Oly`s domination came at the expense of the big greek clubs like Panathinaikos or AEK, who are struggling big-time with financial issues. Olympiakos looked very good in the first leg but realistically, at a closer analysis, they did not deserved that 2-0 win. It was an ugly game with basically no goal scoring chances and the hosts just got the lucky breaks with a long rage effort and a deflected shot to come out with this massive advantage.

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Team news and lineups

Mata is ineligible for United, while Smalling, Evans, Hernandez and Nani are all doubtful. Moyes must be pleased with this injury list after he had some serious problems with unavailable players earlier this season. Olympiakos will miss Ibagaza and Olaitan, while Marcano, Siovas and Saviola are questionable.

Manchester United: De Gea – Rafael, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra – Fellaini, Carrick – Valencia, Rooney, Januzaj – Van Persie

Olympiakos: Roberto – Salino, Marcano, Manolas, Bong – Maniatis, Ndinga – Campbell, Dominguez, Fuster – Valdez

I will go out on a limb here and say that Manchester United can realistically qualify despite their performance in the Liverpool game and the result in the first leg. The quality difference is there, that`s for sure, and I`m not buying into this ‘Moyes is a disaster’ nonsense, as United has showed fantastic football in short patches this season, most notably in Europe, so they proved they can play. I am guessing that in this high stakes, last chance match, the hosts will turn up and produce a solid performance. It`s also hard to imagine United putting in a second horrible performance in a row after the Liverpool match. Olympiakos was a little lucky to go so far ahead in the first leg and away from home they have always been a non-factor in Europe. I am not going to go on United to qualify as an Olympiakos goal would ruin the bet, but my tip will be Manchester United -1,5 handicap. The odds are surely worth the risk on this one. Prediction: Manchester United – Olympiakos 2-0 (3-0 extra time).

Pick: Manchester United (-1,5)
Odds: 2.48 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 10.36
Event date: 19 March