Man Utd v Ajax

Jose Mourinho. The Special One.

Whatever you think of him, it's hard to argue with his exceptional record in cup finals. 13 times he's reached a major final during his managerial career, and 11 times he's come out on top.

Only an early Portuguese Cup defeat to Benfica and a Copa Del Rey defeat to Atletico have marked an otherwise unblemished record, and with a stronger squad, from a stronger league, Mourinho should be backed to prevail again.

United will come into this without two of their best players of course - Eric Bailly is suspended, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic is ruled out through injury, but United still have a strong squad to call on. In fact, Mourinho has long been plotting this day, playing weakened Premier League sides for a few weeks now to ensure his squad remained focussed on the most likely route back into the Champions League.

We should expect to see the likes of Marcus Rashford, Henrikh Mikhitaryan and Anthony Martial posing the biggest threats, while there is an outside chance that Wayne Rooney could get the nod from the start.

Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera look certainties in midfield, while Chris Smalling is a slight doubt in defence.

Either way, United should be a far stronger force in this one - they come into this with a UEFA club co-efficient rating in the mid 90's, while Ajax are around the 60's, and at 17/20 United look a fair bet.

Mourinho will look to keep the game tight, something he has a habit of doing, and although Ajax are freescoring, they have done so in a much lower standard competition, and I'd prefer to look at the fact that 10 of United's last 12 games have gone Under 2.5 goals, and back the 1-0 and 2-0 correct scores at 11/2 and 15/2,

Finally, there are a couple of bad-boys in the Ajax team - most notably Joel Veltman, who has 13 yellows and a red in just 40 appearances this season. With yellow cards against Celta Vigo, Panathinaikos, Lyon, Schalke and Legia Warsaw already in the Europa League this season, he looks reasonable value at 19/10 to be booked on Wednesday.

Man United to win at 17/20

United to win 1-0 at 11/2

United to win 2-0 at 15/2

Veltman to be carded at 19/10

#Football