Manchester United vs FC Twente betting tips, BuildABet, best bets and preview
Football betting tips: Europa League
0.5pt Anass Salah-Eddine to score anytime at 20/1 (Sky Bet)
BuildABet @ 28/1
- Anass Salah-Eddine 1+ shots on target
- 4+ FC Twente corners
- Mees Hilgers to commit 2+ fouls
It's an Erik ten Hag derby of sorts - the three-time player of Twente now in charge of Manchester United. If Steve McClaren had stuck around instead of opting for the Jamaica job, we'd be able to claim it as one of those too.
His side have experienced a mixed start to the new season. A win-draw-loss sort of campaign intertwined with a 7-0 thrashing of League One outfit Barnsley in the Carabao Cup.
Ten Hag is a manager who takes his cup competitions seriously. His measure of success being the items in the trophy cabinet rather than the numbers on a league table. You can argue both ways on whether this is the correct approach.
"If they don’t want me, then I go somewhere else to win trophies because that is what I do," was the line Ten Hag opted to use to bite back at criticism following their FA Cup triumph; the perfect summary of his mentality as a manager.
The Europa League therefore will not be viewed as a distraction but an opportunity. Only Tottenham (eh?) are a shorter price than United in the outright market. Winning at least six of their eight group games is a must - that can start on Wednesday night.
What are the best bets?
The problem is that United are 2/7 to win the game. I don't have a great deal of interest in siding with the visitors at much bigger odds.
Naturally, that's had its knock-on effect in the other markets, with anything favourable to the hosts on offer at short prices too. It's floating around even money that they net at least three.
There's also the issue with actually being able to watch Dutch football in this country. It's one of the leagues that is tough to access - no main broadcaster has acquired the rights to show it.
Watching parts of Twente games back, the thing that jumps out to me is a clear preference to use width in their attacks. Mitchell van Bergen is usually on the left with more attacks going down that side.
ANASS SALAH-EDDINE contributes from left-back too. He found the net in their win over Almere City in the most recent league game with a well-taken goal to make it five.
But here's the thing, he cut in from the right as if he was a winger himself. His flexibility to play on either side can certainly be viewed as a positive and could be problematic for this United defence.
A disclaimer is that he hasn't done it in every game and this change happened in the second half of that contest but it's interesting to see if this was done with one eye on Wednesday's European clash.
Salah-Eddine did also feature as a right-back in the draw with Sparta Rotterdam a few weeks ago, while he operated in that position as a first-half substitute in away win at Nijmegen on opening weekend.
With big prices available on him TO SCORE ANYTIME, I'll have a small stakes play for some interest. Sky Bet go 20/1, with a number of other bookmakers offering around the 18s marker.
United's defence is improving but can still be vulnerable. The full-backs are likely to be their most busy players when Twente are attacking.
Team news
Manchester United remain without injured defensive quartet Victor Lindelof, Tyrell Malacia, Luke Shaw and Leny Yoro.
Despite a busy start to the season, Ten Hag is likely to go strong as they push for Europa League glory. The defence may remain unchanged from their draw with Crystal Palace.
He could opt to give Manuel Ugarte a start in midfield though, likely at the expense of Christian Eriksen.
Michal Sadilek is still out for Twente after suffering an injury by falling off his bike prior to Euro 2024 with Czechia. Younes Taha is a long-term absentee having broken his leg a couple of weeks ago.
Predicted line-ups
Manchester United XI: Onana; Dalot, De Ligt, Martinez, Dalot; Mainoo, Ugarte; Diallo, Fernandes, Garnacho, Zirkzee.
Twente XI: Unnerstall; Van Rooij, Hilgers, Bruns, Salah-Eddine; Eiting, Regeer; Van Bergen, Steijn, Rots; Lammers.
Odds correct at 1335 BST (24/09/24)
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