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Manchester United have cruised, stuttered, fallen and got back their own two feet already this season. It has been quite a topsy-turvy first couple of months and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be urging his side to settle down as they prepare to take on RB Leipzig in a UEFA Champions League group stage encounter tonight.
Manchester United kicked off their Champions League campaign this season with a 2-1 win against Paris Saint-Germain and will be hoping to do more of the same as current Bundesliga leaders RB Leipzig come to visit.
Manchester United come into the game off the back of a dull 0-0 draw with Chelsea. They might have got the better of Paris Saint-Germain last week but RB Leipzig will be a wholly different proposition. Let's take a look at five reasons why Manchester United will struggle against RB Leipzig.
#5 Manchester United's poor home form
Manchester United have been awful at home so far this season. They lost their season opener against Crystal Palace at home. Then they lost to Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford in embarrassing fashion.
While they went to Paris Saint-Germain and made it 10 consecutive wins on the road, they returned to Old Trafford over the weekend to play out a 0-0 draw with Chelsea. This is the first time since the 1972/73 season that United have failed to win all of their first three home league matches.
As such, without the home support, Manchester United seem to be stuck without inspiration at the Theatre of Dreams. RB Leipzig will be well aware of this and will look to come out swinging from the gates.
#4 Striking department needs improvement
Anthony Martial has missed the last two Premier League matches through suspension. He has, however, been available in the UEFA Champions League. After impressing in the final chapter of last season, Anthony Martial's form has suffered severely and the Frenchman is yet to score this season.
Edinson Cavani looks like he will take some time to settle down and we'd be surprised to see him being called up to start tonight. The less said about Odion Ighalo, the better.
As it stands, Marcus Rashford is Manchester United's hope going forward and if the steady RB Leipzig defence can fend him off, then they will starve the Red Devils for goals.
#3 No consistency in defence
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer chose to go with a three-man defence against Paris Saint-Germain with Axel Tuanzebe, Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw holding the line at the back for the Red Devils. They were excellent and kept the extremely talented PSG attack at bay with some wonderful tackling and interceptions.
Alex Telles and Aaron Wan-Bissaka put in impressive shifts as the wing-backs too. Solskjaer subsequently decided to revert to a back four with Lindelof and Maguire as his centre-backs in the weekend game against Chelsea. There was no Telles in the squad.
Though Tuanzebe produced a mesmerizing performance against PSG, it was the first time he had played in about ten months and it's not something that should be expected of him every time he steps out without playing time and experience.
As such, it will be interesting to see what combination Solskjaer goes with at the back but do not be surprised if Manchester United defence look shaky against RB Leipzig.
#2 The pressure is on Manchester United
For a team that fantasizes too much about returning to their glory days, this should be bread and butter. However, the amount of media scrutiny on the manager and the players at Manchester United has grown to toxic levels.
The media has been trying to cook up a storm about Donny van de Beek's absence from the first-team. Marcus Rashford is told to go focus on his football. Media outlets are racing around trying to find replacements for Solskjaer.
To add to this, the Manchester United players did not have a proper season break to recover before the new season. They are just finding their fitness and a lot of players look set to hit their strides. Also, the win against PSG boosted the spirits of the players and the fans immensely. A loss against RB Leipzig could be deflating.
As such, there is a lot of pressure on Manchester United to win- to keep their run going, to turn their home record around, for Solskjaer to keep his job, for the players to prove their worth.
#1 RB Leipzig have been flying
Coming to the most obvious reason why Manchester United should be worried, RB Leipzig are the farthest thing from a pushover. They have been flying this season and are currently at the top of the Bundesliga table, ahead of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
They are yet to taste defeat this season and have not looked like they miss Timo Werner much. They were fully in control against Istanbul Basaksehir and Julian Nagelsmann's side can give any team a run for their money on their day.
RB Leipzig have had seven different scorers and 16 players have already been directly involved in a goal (via goal or assist). That means that Leipzig have been attacking from everywhere and their players are in great shape.
Angelino and Yussuf Poulsen have been excellent so far for Leipzig and they are all set to torment a shaky Manchester United defence tonight.
