Manchester United vs Villarreal Preview

After a disappointing weekend in the Premier League, Manchester United will turn their attention to the UEFA Champions League when they welcome Villareal to Old Trafford. Four months since they met in the Europa League final, both teams will renew their rivalry with United seeking to exact revenge on their Spanish counterparts.

The Red Devils are in a mini-crisis after suffering three defeats from their last four games. They opened their UCL campaign this season with a disappointing one-nil loss to Young Boys to leave them at the bottom of the group.

Although they are still expected to win this group ahead of Villareal and Atalanta, they must put in a huge performance in this game.

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be particular about stopping the rut and improve on his poor UCL campaign. The Norwegian is the only manager of 22 managers who have taken charge of an English club in over 10 UCL matches that have lost more than 50% of his games.

Villareal meanwhile will look to inflict further misery on their English opponents when they travel to England.

They opened their CL campaign with a 2-2 draw with Atalanta and are heading into this tie on the back of a 0-0 draw with Real Madrid. That result preserved their unbeaten start to the La Liga season.

The Yellow Submarines are also on a 17-game unbeaten run in UEFA competitions (W12, D5), the longest such run of any participating side.

They are also unbeaten against Manchester United in their last five meetings (D5).