Man Utd vs Sheriff Europa League result and final score tonight as Cristiano Ronaldo strikes – live
Manchester United reach the Europa League knockout rounds
Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo scored on his return to the starting lineup as they sealed a place in the Europa League knockout rounds with a 3-0 victory over Sheriff Tiraspol at Old Trafford on Thursday.
Ronaldo, who was left out of the squad for the weekend Premier League trip to Chelsea for disciplinary reasons, scored United’s third goal after Diogo Dalot and Marcus Rashford had given the home side a comfortable lead.
United are in second place in Group E with 12 points from five matches ahead of their visit to Real Sociedad in their final pool game next week, where victory could see them top the table and book a place straight into the last 16.
Sociedad defeated Omonia 2-0 thanks to goals from Robert Navarro and Brais Mendez, while Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma kept their knockout round hopes alive with a 2-1 win at HJK Helsinki in Group C after striker Tammy Abraham scored their opener.
PSV vs Arsenal team changes
Ruud van Nistelrooy makes three changes to the PSV team that lost 4-2 in the Eredivisie at the weekend with defenders Jordan Teze and Armando Obispo replaced by Phillip Mwene and Jarrad Branthwaite. Erick Gutierrez slots into midfield and striker Guus Til fins himself on the bench.
As expected Mikel Arteta rings in the changes and introduces five new players to the starting XI. Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney join the back line with Albert Sambi Lokonga joining Martin Odegaard and Granit Xhaka in midfield. Fabio Vieira is given another start and Eddie Nketiah comes in up top.
Gabriel, Ben White, Thomas Partey, Buakyo Saka and Gabriel Jesus drop out.
PSV vs Arsenal line-ups
PSV XI: Benitez; Mwene, Ramalho, Branthwiate, Max; Veerman, Sangare, Gutierrez; Simons, El Ghazi, Gakpo
Arsenal XI: Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, Holding, Saliba, Tierney; Odegaard, Lokonga, Xhaka; Vieira, Martinelli, Nketiah
Tonight’s venue
PSV play at the 36,500-capacity Philips Stadion, which is the third-largest football stadium in the country. A ground has been on the site since 1910, with its last major works completed in 2002.
It has hosted Dutch national team matches, as well as three matches at Euro 2000 including England’s 3-2 defeat to Portugal.
It was also the venue for the 2006 Uefa Cup final when Middlesbrough were beaten 4-0 by Sevilla.
Ruud van Nistelrooy confident PSV will respond against Arsenal after shock loss
Ruud van Nistelrooy is certain PSV will avoid embarrassment when they host Arsenal again in the Europa League.
The second-placed Eredivisie side suffered a 4-2 loss to Groningen during Sunday’s domestic action, conceding three goals during a catastrophic six minutes to end the first half.
But boss Van Nistelrooy was adamant his squad to face the Gunners, who beat them 1-0 in London last week, are made of tougher stuff and will have exorcised any demons well before Thursday’s contest.
Ruud van Nistelrooy confident PSV will respond against Arsenal after shock loss
PSV suffered a 4-2 defeat to Groningen in Eredivisie on Sunday
Van Nistelrooy hoping to improve
PSV Eindhoven coach Ruud van Nistelrooy is hoping that his team will improve against the Gunners this evening after being impressed with his team’s performance in the second half at the Emirates last week.
Speaking at a press conference earlier this week he said: "I hope that we can build on our second-half display in London,
"Yes, Arsenal were better, but in the first half they were streets ahead of us. So, this time I hope we can do more with the ball and can stay higher up the pitch."
PSV vs English opposition
Tonight will mark the 19th time that PSV have played against an English side in European competition in Eindhoven and there is no telling what result is mosrt likely.
The Dutch side have six wins, six draws and six defeats here against English teams.
Arteta wants to finish first
Mikel Arteta says that it is vitally important that his team finish top of Group A and avoid a play-off match to reach the last-16 as the competition is getting more difficult due to the quality of the teams dropping out of the Champions League.
"Last week we made the first step which was to qualify for the next round. We need to win because we want to finish first," he said.
"This competition is getting harder and harder, it looks like the next round is going to be extremely competitive. That’s why finishing first in the group and avoiding another two games is such an important thing for us."
Mikel Arteta has ‘no complaints’ after Southampton hold Arsenal to draw
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta felt his Premier League leaders contributed to their own undoing after surrendering a lead at Southampton to drop points for only the second time this season.
Granit Xhaka’s thumping early strike put the in-form Gunners ahead at St Mary’s but they faded and eventually had to settle for a 1-1 draw following Stuart Armstrong’s second-half equaliser.
The draw was the north London club’s first in 32 fixtures in all competitions, dating back to January, leaving them just two points above champions Manchester City and with plenty of regrets.
Gabriel Jesus wasted two golden chances to stretch Arsenal’s lead before the leveller, while he was also denied a first-half penalty after appearing to be hauled down by Duje Caleta-Car.
Mikel Arteta has ‘no complaints’ after Southampton hold Arsenal to draw
Stuart Armstrong equalised following Granit Xhaka’s opener for the Gunners
PSV vs Arsenal early team news and predicted line-ups
Ruud van Nistelrooy will be without Yorbe Vertessen, Marco van Ginkel, Ismael Saibari, Kjell Peersman and Olivier Boscagli for the visit of Arsenal.
A number of absent PSV players were fit to return to action in the reverse fixture last week, including Luuk de Jong, who could be brought in to the starting side after another appearance from the bench in the 4-2 defeat to Groningen at the weekend.
Arsenal’s squad appears in reasonable shape with Oleksandr Zinchenko moving closer to a return from his calf issue, though Mohamed Elneny and Emile Smith Rowe remain out.
Mikel Arteta has mixed and matched his squad in European competition this year and this should be another opportunity for the manager to give chances to those not currently in his first-choice eleven.
Predicted line-ups
PSV XI: Benitez; Mwene, Ramalho, Obispo, Max; Veerman, Sangare, Gutierrez; Simons, De Jong, Gakpo.
Arsenal XI: Turner; Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Xhaka, Lokonga; Nelson, Vieira, Martinelli; Nketiah
PSV vs Arsenal
Hello and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of Thursday’s Europa League action.
There are two big games this evening with Arsenal travelling to PSV Eindhoven needing just one point from the 5.45pm kick off to clinch top spot in Group A.
Manager Mikel Arteta will hope to use the game to regain his team’s winning momentum ahead of a Premier League trip to Nottingham Forest on Sunday. Should the Gunners win or draw in the Netherlands tonight they will qualify for the Europa League last-16 and avoid a play-off against one of the Champions League sides dropping into the competition.
Manchester United are second in Group E and trail Real Sociedad by three points. Erik ten Hag’s men host Sheriff Tiraspol at Old Trafford tonight with dedicated coverage of that game following the conclusion of Arsenal’s match versus PSV.
The Red Devils must match or better Sociedad’s result against Omonia Nicosia and then defeat the Spanish side in the final game week in order to finish first. If they fail to do so they will have to go through a play-off match in order to reach the last-16 and with teams like Juventus and Barcelona dropping out of the Champions League that will be no easy task. The first job though is to secure qualification to the next round and United still require a point to guarantee, at least, a second place finish.
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