Mathematically Manchester United can still qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League even if they do not beat Bundesliga side Wolfsburg tonight at the Volkswagen Arena in Saxony.
Wolfsburg leads Group B with nine points with United second on eight while PSV Eindhoven is third with seven leaving CSKA Moscow already eliminated with just four points.
If PSV wins their home game against Moscow only a win in Germany would assure United of a place in the last 16, while a draw is good enough to see Wolfsburg go through.
Manger Louis van Gaal has a thin squad of players to choose from when he picks his starting XI for what everyone is calling a must win match for the Red Devils if they are to realistically move on to the last 16 of the competition missing Wayne Rooney, Morgan Schneiderlin, Ander Herrera, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Antonio Valencia and Luke Shaw.
Even Paddy McNair was included in the players making the trip to Germany despite injuring his ankle during the 0-0 draw with West Ham at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Joining the squad will be youngsters Nick Powell, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Sean Goss, Guillermo Varela and Andreas Pereira.
Given the teams list of injuries we expect to see a couple of changes from the team that drew with West Ham with former PSV winger Memphis Depay getting the nod over Jesse Lingard after his impressive cameo performance at the weekend.
Van Gaal could of course keep Lingard in the team by sacrificing Belgium international Marouane Fellaini, but given the fact he looked the most likely to score against the Hammers will be kept in the team for his ability to score from set-pieces.
With LVG knowing that a win is the only way through for United we expect the Dutchman to field an attacking looking team that could include Ashley Young at left-back. Michael Carrick and Bastian Schweinsteiger will almost certainly start in midfield given Schneiderlin’s injury, while Anthony Martial will be told to take shots on goal at every opportunity.
Over the past few weeks van Gaal has been criticised for his possession based game, but tonight he knows nothing but a win will be good enough and will have emphasised this with the players during training.
Have a look at our team selection below and see if you think we have it right as we predict Manchester United to win by a score of 0-2 at odds of 14/1 with Bet365.
As a side bet we would also take Fellaini to score anytime at odds of 3/1 as he looks to make up for the best chance of the match last Saturday.
