Europa League/Conference League Matchday 2 preview: United looking to open Europa League account

Thursday night football returns with the second round of Europa League and Europa Conference League fixtures, where Manchester United will be looking to make up for a slow start when they travel to Moldova to face Sheriff Tiraspol.

We preview United’s tie as well the two British sides in action in the Europa Conference League.

Sheriff Tiraspol v Manchester United

After their recent revival in the Premier League, Erik ten Hag will have been disappointed that his side slipped up in their opening Europa League fixture against Real Sociedad at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils will be looking to get their first points on the board in Group E, as they travel to Moldovan champions Sheriff Tiraspol. This really is a case of giants meeting minnows and understandably United go into this tie as the overwhelming 2/9 favourites.

With their wealth of attacking talent on offer, they should have too much fire power for the hosts, with Cristiano Ronaldo odds-on to find the net at 8/15.

However, it should be noted that Sheriff are no strangers to pulling off a giant killing in Europe, as they proved their capability when beating Real Madrid in their Champions League group last season.

The Moldovans opened their Europa League campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win over Cypriot side Omonia and will come into this tie with confidence. United will have to be on their guard and Sheriff are unlikely to be the pushovers that their 12/1 odds of victory suggest.

Despite the threat Sheriff carry, United are 8/11 to keep a clean sheet and just 23/10 to score four goals or more.

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Silkeborg v West Ham

After enjoying a run to the semi-finals of the Europa League last season, West Ham fans will no doubt have eyes on another European adventure and will fancy their chances of a good run in the Europa Conference League.

The Hammers began with a good 3-1 win over FCSB in their first match and now travel to Denmark to face Silkeborg. They are strong 1/2 favourites to get the better of the Danish side and victory here would see them already well on the way to qualifying for the knockout rounds.

Both Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen were on target in the last round and are 13/10 and 29/20 respectively to score here. New signing Gianluca Scamacca is also 13/10 to grab a goal.

Silkeborg finished third in the Danish Superliga last season and currently lie fourth after nine games this campaign. They lost narrowly in their opening Conference League fixture to Anderlecht and are 24/5 to make amends with a win here.

Both sides have conceded plenty of goals in their league campaigns so far and that fact might make this a high-scoring affair, with the match 7/4 to feature over 3.5 goals.

Rigas FS v Hearts

Scottish side Hearts are competing in the group stages of a European competition for the first time since the 2004-05 season. They received a harsh welcome back when they went down 4-0 at home to Istanbul Basaksehir in their opening fixture.

They could be in for another tough time as they head to 2021 Latvian champions Rigas FS, however, the Jambos come into the tie as the 5/4 favourites for victory, while a draw is priced at 21/10.

Rigas FS began their Europa Conference League adventure by holding Italian giants Fiorentina to a 1-1 draw in Florence and will surely take plenty of confidence from that performance. They are 2/1 to inflict a second defeat on Robbie Neilson’s side.

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