Champions League Group A: Manchester United could be in for a difficult night in Donetsk

The latest Man Utd Shakhtar Donesk odds as Manchester United’s poor recent form have seen them placed as 9/5 underdogs by Paddy Power for their Champions League Group A clash in Ukraine.

Having been upset by West Brom at the weekend, David Moyes will need to rally the troops as they face a difficult tie in Ukraine against Shakhtar Donetsk.

United have lost their last two games in the Premier League and this has left many people starting to doubt whether Moyes was the right man to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.

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The main problem that United are facing for their trip to the Donbass Arena is that Rio Ferdinand will miss the tie having picked up a groin strain during the 3-2 loss to The Baggies on Saturday.

Alongside that, several of United’s fringe players such as Anderson and Fabio will not make the trip as will Wilfried Zaha who played for the U19’s on Monday night.

One thing that will give Manchester Untied confidence is that Shakhtar are in just as miserable form in their home league having won just one of their last five games and dropping to third in the table.

Shakhtar will have largely a full squad to choose for tonight’s clash against the Premier League champions who will likely face an old foe in former Arsenal striker Eduardo who is a favourite to start upfront after scoring against local rivals Metalurg Donetsk in their draw at the weekend.

Although several of Shakhtar’s big names have departed in the last year, United will still need to keep an eye out for Brazilian midfielder Douglas Costa who can control the entire midfield if given space.

The other group A game will see Bayer Leverkusen look to get some points under their belt as they host Spanish debutants Real Sociedad at the BayArena.

Leverkusen have been in good form over the past couple of months climbing to third in the Bundesliga and sitting just a couple of points behind Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

Bayer boss Sami Hyypia will have a full squad to choose from and could rest some of their key players such as Stefan Kiessling and Sidney Sam for the game giving the likes of Eren Derdiyok and Robbie Kruse the chance to show what they can do.

Real Sociedad have enjoyed a steady start to their La Liga campaign rising up to 8th in the table showing some glimpses of their superior form from last season.

However, the San Sebastian side will be missing several players for the trip to Germany including club captain Xabi
Prieto who is out with a thigh tear and Esteban Granero who picked up an ACL problem in the opening group game loss to Shakhtar.

With Manchester United having already beaten Bayer Leverkusen in Group A, David Moyes will be hoping that his team can produce a similar performance to get past a fierce Shakhtar side who have never lost at home to an English team.

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