Date: Wednesday, October 2 Venue: Donbass Arena Kick-Off: 19:45 Can Manchester United put their miserable start to the Premier League behind them by taking control of Group A of the Champions League with victory over Shakhtar Donetsk?
Team News
Shakhtar Donetsk manager Mircea Lucescu has a fully-fit squad to select from ahead of Wednesday night's Champions League Group A clash with Manchester United. Striker Luiz Adriano is a slight doubt, but should play after returning to training this week. Robin van Persie is set to start for Manchester United. The Netherlands international has been troubled by a groin strain and has not started a game since United's Group A opener against Bayer Leverkusen. Rio Ferdinand, Anderson, Fabio and Wilfried Zaha have not travelled to the Ukraine. (Eurosport)
Key Stats
This will be the first competitive meeting between the two sides. Shakhtar have won all three of their home games against English opposition in the Champions League. Manchester Utd are unbeaten against Ukrainian clubs in the Champions League (three wins, one draw). Shakhtar Donetsk have played 55 games in the Champions League but have never had a goalless draw, a competition record.
Likely Line-Ups
Shakhtar Pyatov, Srna, Rakytskyy, Kucher, Shevchuk, Hübschman, Fernando, Costa, Teixeira, Taison, Adriano Man Utd De Gea, Evra, Vidic, Jones, Rafael, Fellaini, Carrick, Welbeck, Rooney, Valencia, Van Persie
Match Preview
This has been a retched start to the season for Manchester United manager David Moyes. Last weekend's defeat to West Brom made it two consecutive Premier League defeats for the English champions, with their current 7 point tally being their lowest at this stage of the season since 1989. The Champions League will come as an opportunity for Moyes to claim some form of redemption, because a win here against Shakhtar would put United in control of Group A on six points from six. This is the first ever encounter between these two sides, though Shakhtar can go into this one with confidence having won all three of their home games against English opposition to date. The Ukrainians claimed the scalp of Chelsea with a 2-1 win in October 2012, which should serve as a pointed warning to Moyes and co. that a much-needed win tonight might not necessarily be straightforward. The return of Robin van Persie to the starting XI will boost United, however, who will be looking to continue the statistic of having never been beaten by Ukrainian opposition. Prediction: 1-2
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
