The Premier League clubs who will be heading off into UEFA Europa League action this season now know their fate after Friday’s group stage draw. Manchester United and Southampton enter the fray at the group stage, with West Ham having failed at the final qualifying hurdle on Thursday night, getting dumped out of the competition by Romanian side Astra Giurgiu. So that leaves only United and the Saints doing battle in the competition, but they are joined by League of Ireland side Dundalk.
Manchester United have been draw against Fenerbahce, Feyenoord and Zorya Luhansk in the group stage. That means that they will get to reunite with former striker Robin van Persie who is plying his trade with Fenerbahce at the moment. This is in Group A of the competition and the Red Devils are running at a quote of 1/2 to take the top spot in the group with the perceived weaker challenges that they are going to have to face up against. Van Persie’s Fenerbahce are 5/1 to win the group with Feyenoord at 7/1 and outsiders Zorya coming in at 30/1
Southampton will compete in Group K where they take on Inter Milan, Sparta Prague and Hapoel Beer Sheva. There are some tough games in there for the Saints as they take on Inter and Hapoel Beer Sheva gave Celtic a run for their money in the play off round of the UEFA Champions League as well. While there are some tricky experiences out on the road to come by the looks of it, things could be different at home where Southampton are usually pretty solid.
The match dates for the group stage are 15 and 29 September, 20 October, 3 and 24 November, and 8 December.
Full draw:
Group A: Man Utd, Fenerbahce, Feyenoord, Zorya Luhansk
Group B: Olympiakos, Apoel Nicosia, Young Boys, Astana
Group C: Anderlecht, St Etienne, Mainz, Qabala
Group D: Zenit St Petersburg, AZ Alkmaar, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Dundalk
Group E: Plzen, Roma, Austria Vienna, FC Astra Giurgiu
Group F: Athletic Bilbao, Genk, Rapid Wien, Sassuolo
Group G: Ajax, Standard Liege, Celta Vigo, Panathinaikos
Group H: Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga, Gent, Konyaspor
Group I: Schalke 04, FC Red Bull Salzburg, Krasnodar, Nice
Group J: Fiorentina, PAOK Salonika, Liberec, Qarabag
Group K: Inter Milan, Sparta Prague, Southampton, Hapoel Beer Sheva
Group L: Villarreal, Steaua Bucharest, FC Zurich, Osmanlispor
Betting on the outright Europa League winner market is never cut and dry at this stage of the season of course, because you will have the third-placed teams from the UEFA Champions League group stage joining up at some point. But as it stands after the draw you have Manchester United who are running at 6/1 to go and take the title followed by Italian giants Roma at 10/1. Inter Milan and Athletic Bilbao come in at 16/1 and then you have everyone else at least 20/1. But remember these are all long shots right now because anything could happen from the group stage of the Champions League and big competitors like reigning champions Sevilla could come down again.
Europa League Winner Outright Odds
Man Utd 6/1, Roma 10/1, Inter Milan 16/1, Athletic Bilbao 16/1, Fiorentina 20/1, Schalke 20/1, Villarreal 20/1, Zenit 20/1, Shakhtar Donetsk 22/1, Bar 33/1.
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