Manchester United v Omonia: Resurgent Ronaldo to sparkle

Manchester United v Omonia
Thursday 13 October, 20:00
Live on BT Sport

Goodison Park win was a triumph of resilience

It was all about comebacks for Manchester United in their 2-1 success at Everton at the weekend. Firstly, the Red Devils needed to bounce back from the derby debacle at Manchester City, but they also needed to recover from going a goal down to an Everton side that was in decent form.

Brazilian winger Antony bagged a fine equaliser (he now has three goals in three games in the Premier League), before Cristiano Ronaldo struck his 700th career club goal to win it. Ronaldo replaced the injured Anthony Martial, and made a match-winning impact. His former Real Madrid team-mate Casemiro had a mixed evening, losing the ball for Alex Iwobi's opener before teeing up Ronaldo for the winner.

In the Europa League, United have repaired the damage caused by their opening defeat to Real Sociedad. The Red Devils won 2-0 at Sheriff in Moldova before securing an entertaining 3-2 success against Omonia in Cyprus. There were some superb attacking moments - particularly from substitutes Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial - but there was also some sloppy play that helped the Cypriot Cup winners score twice.

With Real Sociedad winning all three of their games so far, United are playing catch-up in the race for top spot, and it's worth remembering that only the group winners avoid a play-off against a Champions League drop-out.

That means this is a huge game for Erik ten Hag's side, because they simply can't afford to slip up. That should be reflected in the quality of the side the Dutch coach picks, although Martial has now joined an injury list that includes Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Donny van de Beek.

Omonia get their reward

It may sound a bit twee, but in many ways Omonia will be winners whatever happens on Thursday. Neil Lennon's side get to play one of the world's biggest clubs for the second time this month, and this is their reward for not only winning the Cypriot Cup, but also beating Belgian side Gent in the UEL qualifiers.

Given that Omonia led at half-time against United last week, Lennon admitted he had conflicting emotions after that game. The former Celtic boss admitted he was "gutted" to have lost the game, but was also immensely proud of their work-rate and their bravery. Lennon says he now knows United's strengths and weaknesses, but he's also aware of the enormous gap in quality between the two groups of players.

Domestically, Omonia are struggling. They were beaten 1-0 at home at AEL Limassol at the weekend, which was their third league defeat in six matches this term. All three of those defeats have come away from home.

Lennon has no fresh injury or suspension concerns, and isn't expected to make many changes to his side.

United to win comfortably

For all of Omonia's effort, they really should have been smashed in Cyprus last week, but United were profligate in front of goal. That was especially true of Ronaldo, who hit the post and missed other good chances. I can see the hosts creating lots of chances here, but the Asian Handicap bar is set pretty high, with us needing to back United to win by three goals or more to get an attractive price.

Instead I'll focus on Ronaldo. He's finally off and running in the Premier League this season, and reaching that career milestone of 700 club goals is a weight off his shoulders. I'll back him to score two goals or more here on the Sportsbook at 2.757/4.

Alternatively, you could use the Sportsbook's Bet Builder to back Ronaldo to score, United -1 on the Handicap and Over 2.5 Goals at 1.875/6.