MANCHESTER UNITED VS BASEL MATCH PREVIEWS

Manchester United spent a year out of action in the Champions League thanks to their poor performances in the Premier League, but it ended up yielding dividends, as they lifted the Europa League last season, which was the one trophy missing from their cabinet. This also allowed them a straight passage to the group stages, so Jose Mourinho’s gamble of focusing on that over the league ended up paying off.

Mourinho has continued to rebuild the squad over the summer, bringing in Nemanja Matic, Victor Lindelof, and Romelu Lukaku. All of these are expected to play on Tuesday, with Lindelof set to try and earn a more regular spot in the starting line up after not playing a league game so far.

The summer transfer business has definitely paid off so far. Matic’s arrival has freed up the previously constrained Paul Pogba and the young Frenchman is flourishing at the moment. Lukaku is the big success though, scoring four league goals already this season and netting in the UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid. Backing him to score anytime looks the best bet for our anytime goalscorer predictions.

Manchester United did drop their first points of the season away to Stoke on Saturday, but they have scored 12 goals in their last four matches and kept three clean sheets in the process. Against the underdogs of their Champions League group, they will be feeling very confident.

Basel may have romped home to the Swiss Super League title last season, but the Champions League is a very different beast. The visitors picked up just two points in their group stage last season and were comfortably beaten by Arsenal and PSG both home and away. They haven’t won a game in the competition since August 2015, and three of their last five outings have seen them lose by at least a two goal margin.

This could spell trouble for the visitors. They are facing a side who have won three of their four league games this season by a two goal margin or more, and Basel have lost six of their last ten away days in the Champions League. Five of these six defeats have been by two or more goals, so odds of 1.990 for a Manchester United -2.0 Asian Handicap win look good value, alongside a 4-0 correct score predictions at 8/1.