Manchester United Women travel to the AOK Stadion on Wednesday evening to take on Wolfsburg Women in the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) after a disappointing result over the weekend.
Indeed, the Red Devils lost 3-0 away to their bitter local rivals Manchester City Women in the Women’s Super League (WSL), and are now off the pace in terms of their race for the title. However, they have been perfect in the UWCL so far, winning each of their first three games in the competition.
Wolfsburg Women have not done badly either in the league phase, winning two of their three opening matches. They also beat Freiburg Women 3-1 on home soil in the Women’s DFB Pokal last time out.
Interestingly, these two teams have never met in competitive action before, so it will no doubt be interesting to see just how they face off against each other. A win here for either side would put them in a very strong position to qualify for the knockout stage.
How the bookies view it: Wolfsburg Women favourites to win
BoyleSports have Wolfsburg Women as the 6/5 favourites to claim all three points on home soil. United Women can also be backed at 6/4 odds with the same bookmaker to continue their perfect start in the competition.
However, we feel that there is value in backing a draw at 12/5 odds. Both teams have lost two of their last three games in total across all competitions, and so may decide to shake hands on a point each, which would still put them both in strong positions in terms of the league phase table.
Recent head-to-head: No previous meetings
As mentioned before, Wednesday evening will provide the first time that both teams meet each other in any competition. They have also yet to play English and German opposition respectively so far this season.
Players to watch: Beerensteyn a danger
Lineth Beerensteyn is in-form with a goal in each of her last two appearances for Wolfsburg Women, including in the UWCL last time out, albeit in a 3-1 defeat away at Lyon Women.
Fridolina Rolfo has shown her experience in this competition with two goals already for her new team, and is certainly one of United Women’s biggest threats.
Predicted lineups
Smilla Vallotto is a doubt for Wolfsburg Women due to illness. Indeed, she missed the win against Freiburg Women last time out.
Likewise, Similar Awujo is also a doubt for United Women after a nasty clash of heads in the Manchester derby.
Wolfsburg Women: Johannes; Linder, Dijkstra, Kuver, Levels; Kielland, Minge; Huth, Popp, Zicai; Bereensteyn.
Manchester United Women: Middleton-Patel; Riviere, Le Tissier, Janssen, Sandberg; Miyazawa, Zigiotti Olme, Toone; Park, Rolfo, Malard.
Anything else catch the eye?
We are expecting plenty of goals given each of Wolfsburg Women’s last four games in total in all competitions have seen 4+ scored. We are backing Over 3.5 total goals at 13/8 odds with BoyleSports.
United Women have won four of their previous five away matches, and tend to start strongly on their travels. Back them to be the team to break the deadlock at 21/20 with the same bookmaker.
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