Manchester United resume their Champions League campaign by playing host to La Liga strugglers Real Sociedad, with the Red Devils desperate to make amends for the dismal start to the Premier League season. La Real finally ended an eight-match winless run as they defeated Valencia away, but it remains to be seen if they can repeat a similar performance against the English giants.

Another costly slip-up

Not many people believed David Moyes had what it takes to successfully replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford and United’s recent results are enough to suggest pre-season predictions are coming true. However, I feel it is still too early to judge the Scottish manager and am pretty sure that the Red Devils will come good in no time. The team have already suffered quite a few slip-ups, and they currently sit eight points off the top of the Premier League standings, but the players’ huge European experience is proving to be a major asset in European fixtures. In spite of some under-par performances on domestic stage, Manchester United largely impressed in Champions League fixtures, recording a 4-2 win over Bundesliga high-flyers Bayer Leverkusen, while playing out a 1-1 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk. Given that David Moyes is likely to field a very strong line-up against Real Sociedad in an attempt to record a morale-boosting victory, another solid Champions League result appears on the cards. The Scot is likely to make some changes to the starting line-up, but that is unlikely to make the job any easier for the La Liga side.

Skipper Nemanja Vidic is expected to return from a calf problem, but Tom Cleverley and Darren Fletcher remain on the sidelines.

Eight-match winless run finally over

Real Socieadad achieved a huge success last term as they pipped Valencia to a top 4 finish in La Liga, thus returning to Europe’s elite competition following a nine-year absence. La Real in turn impressed to make it to the group stages by eliminating Lyon, but they have since largely struggled to live up to the billing. With inexperienced boss Jagoba Arrasate not exactly proving to be a good choice and his squad not big enough to cope with the hectic schedule in the early exchanges, Real Sociedad have been utterly disappointing of late, picking up just three points from six league games, while losing Champions League fixtures to Shakhtar Donetsk and Bayer Leverkusen. The team finally ended the barren run as they defeated Valencia at Mestalla, but that is hardly a major achievement given that los Che are much weaker than last term. Even if the triumph in Valencia is likely to do wonders for the players’ confidence, the lack of European experience and the strength of their next opponents are likely to make Sociedad’s task of avoiding defeat at Old Trafford extremely difficult.

Captain Xabi Prieto has returned into action at the weekend, but Esteban Granero and Dani Estrada are out injured.

Verdict

Manchester United may be struggling in the league, but their European performances remain of the highest standard and I have no doubts they will make a giant step towards the knockout stages by defeating Real Sociedad. The La Liga side have proved they are unable to cope with the busy schedule and strong European sides, with their poor Champions League run set to continue.

Top pick: Home win   1.57 (4/7) @ Paddy Power

Alternative pick 1: Man Utd/Man Utd   2.30 (13/10) @ Coral

Alternative pick 2: Man Utd with -1.5 handicap   2.35 (27/20) @ bet365

As of this season bet365 is live streaming every single NBA match completely free of charge, while offering plenty of in-play markets on the competition.