FC Midtjylland vs. Manchester United: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info

Louis van Gaal takes his team to Denmark for FC Midtjylland vs. Manchester United in the Europa League on Thursday knowing the competition represents a chance at a return to the Champions League next season. 

When the draw was made in December, Midtjylland expressed their excitement on social media. Their excitement was understandable given the club was founded as recently as the year United won the treble, 1999.

With their unusually heavy reliance on statistics, Midtjylland are a fascinating institution. An in-depth look at the model, by Sean Ingle of the Guardian in February 2015, can be found here. 

However, United will not be concerned with the future of data analytics and its role in football. Rather, they will be focused on the chance to help rescue what threatens to be a thoroughly disappointing season.

Lars Poulsen/Associated Press

Ahead of the game, Midtjylland head coach Jess Thorup said, per James Robson of Manchester Evening News: "It doesn’t matter which players, young or old, United put on the pitch, we have to be at our best and 100 per cent to have a chance." 

Date: Thursday, February 18, 2016

Time: 6.00 p.m. GMT/1.00 p.m. ET

Venue: MCH Arena, Herning, Denmark

TV Info: BT Sport 2 (UK only)/Fox Sports 2 (U.S. only)

Live Stream: BT Sport (UK only)/Fox Soccer 2Go (U.S. only)

Form Lines

Midtjylland (No games since December 10 because of Denmark's winter break): LWDLLD

Manchester United: WLWWDL

Team News

For Midtjylland, United's website reported that "Jakob Poulsen is suspended and fellow midfielder Petter Andersson is doubtful, while goalkeeper Johan Dahlin is definitely out."

For United the big team news is the medium-term absence of Wayne Rooney. Van Gaal told MUTV (h/t the club's website): "You can never say [how long he could be out for]. He has a knee problem so we have to wait and see." BBC Sport reported the injury could see him face "about six weeks on the sidelines." 

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

Van Gaal said of his captain, per BBC Sport:

"

He's a guy who wants to go until the end and if he's feeling a pain he doesn't want to go off. He wants to win. 

That's a fantastic attitude but sometimes it's also bad for his body.

But you cannot say [if he made the injury worse] because he didn't know when it happened. That's the difficulty.

"

United's injury problems extend beyond Rooney, though, as Van Gaal explained to MUTV: 

"

[Matteo] Darmian has a dislocated shoulder. It's not the heaviest type so we are lucky, but he is injured and out. [Cameron] Borthwick-Jackson is ill and cannot play either, so we have 13 players injured or not capable of playing.

I have never had that amount of players injured [before]. When you realise that they are only contact injuries—only Marouane Fellaini maybe has a muscle problem, the rest have contact injuries - it's unbelievable that we are very unlucky.

"

The 18-man squad that has travelled to Denmark is made up of, per the club's website, David De Gea, Sergio Romero, Donald Love, Paddy McNair, Chris Smalling, Daley Blind, Regan Poole, Joe Riley, Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera, Morgan Schneiderlin, Jesse Lingard, Andreas Pereira, James Weir, Juan Mata, Memphis Depay, Anthony Martial and Will Keane.

Predicted Lineups

With Midtjylland having been on their midseason break, WhoScored.com suggested their starting XI will look like this: 

As for United, with a severe shortage of full-backs on offer, there seems a reasonable chance of a first start for Love—who came on as a substitute against Sunderland on Saturday—and a first-team debut for Riley. Alternatively, Van Gaal could switch to a back three with McNair coming in alongside Blind and Smalling. 

Additionally, Herrera must surely be in contention for a first-team place with United again lacking creativity without him. Van Gaal's reluctance to play Herrera has been one of the most maddening things about his time in charge, and another XI without him is hardly a long shot. The team may well look as below:

There is also an outside chance Van Gaal will spring a surprise and opt for a front two featuring Memphis—as he did when Rooney was out for the game against Watford at Vicarage Road back in November 2015.

Players to Watch

Pione Sisto is Midtjylland's star man. He is the club's leading scorer in this season's Europa League, with two goals, and back in the summer of 2015 he was linked with moves to Juventus, Arsenal and even Barcelona according to TuttoMercatoWeb (h/t Metro).

Jonathan Fadugba of Just Football described Sisto as "a pacy, threatening wide man who has the speed, directness and trickery to cause United problems." Sisto told Fadugba: "I'm an attacker so I'm supposed to score goals, which I'm trying to do. I try to make some assists also, which I'm quite good at too. Dribbling is one of my strengths."

For United, Martial's return to the middle will be a key factor with Rooney having—up until the past couple of games—been back in good form. The Frenchman has seemed to enjoy his time on the left wing, and it will be intriguing to see how effective he will be if he moves inside. After all, he is likely to have a run there while Rooney recovers.

Elsewhere, Mata will potentially be important as he looks to exploit any defensive weakness on Midtjylland's part from the No. 10 role.

Key Battle

If Riley is selected, then his battle with Sisto will be key, particularly on the counter-attack. Additionally, United will have to concern themselves at set pieces. Van Gaal said, per Joe Mewis of the Mirror:

"

We don’t have tall players so we know that in advance. Midtjylland are specialised at set plays. They have scored 48 goals from them, so we will try to organise for that but it’s difficult.

We hope we can do that but we mustn’t give too many corners or free-kicks away. 

"

Matej Divizna/Getty Images

Thorup agreed, saying, per Robson of the Manchester Evening News: "We have noticed [United's weakness from set pieces] and analysed it. Everybody knows we’re good at set pieces so we will try and do that tomorrow again."

For United, Mata's battle with Tim Sparv, Midtjylland's robust defensive midfielder, could be crucial.

Odds

Midtjylland: 9-2

Draw: 11-4

Manchester United: 5-6

Odds for the game correct at the time of writing, per Oddschecker.