Manchester United vs Sabah FK
Manchester United vs Sabah FK
Last Word on Football brings you the latest team news and a predicted lineup for Thursday’s Manchester United vs Sabah FK Champions League fixture.
The three-time champions, Manchester United, will be looking to start strong in their first appearance in the ‘new’ Champions League format. They kicked off their Premier League campaign with a 2-0 loss to newly promoted Hull City before dominating another newly promoted team, Ipswich Town. This past Sunday, United suffered the agony of a last-minute equaliser as Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored a screamer to rescue a point for Everton.
Sabah FK are the defending champions of the Azerbaijan Premier League. Unlike United, they have been flawless this season, going three from three. Their most recent result saw them cruise to a 5-0 victory with Joy-Lance Mickels scoring a hat-trick. This fixture will mark the first time that Sabah will play an official Champions League game, having defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva in qualifying.
Manchester United vs Sabah FK – Three-time European Cup winners vs Debutants
Date: Thursday, September 10th, 2026
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
Kick-off: 20:00
Last meeting: N/A
Current odds: Manchester United 1/9, draw 8/1, Sabah 18/1
Manchester United Team News
Sunday’s trip to Everton saw an unchanged side from the one that beat Ipswich a week previously. With that being said, the Red Devils had to rely on a Benjamin Sesko coming off the bench to score the goal that put them 2-1 ahead before the Everton equaliser.
Mason Mount returned to the Manchester United bench for the first time this season, although he didn’t get any minutes.
Following rumours, Michael Carrick was asked about Luke Shaw’s availability in his press conference, to which he stated: “We gave him an extra recovery day today. We’ll see by tomorrow how he is. This isn’t an ongoing thing or plan, just a thing off the back of the game the other day”.
Matthijs de Ligt, Manuel Ugarte and Amad Diallo all remain out, as does the big summer signing, Carlos Baleba. On de Ligt, Carrick said: “We’re still managing him, he’s trained well and he’s pushing and pushing, but we’ve got to manage that last stage. He’s in a good place and it’s great to have him back. Hopefully he will return soon”.
Sabah FK Team News
Manchester United vs Sabah FK is, without a doubt, the biggest game in the Azerbaijani team’s short history and we expect every player to want to declare themselves fit and ready to play.
After a strong showing last time out, it’s unlikely that coach Valdas Dambrauskas will make any changes to his starting team.
Manchester United vs Sabah FK Predicted Lineups
Manchester United
Lammens
Yoro
Maguire
Heaven
Dorgu
Mainoo
Santos
Fernandes
Lacey
Cunha
Sesko
Sabah FK
Pokatilov
Zedadka
Solvet
Almeida
Puchacz
Lepinjica
Isayev
Parris
Mickels
Mbina
Simic
The Last Word: Match Prediction
The odds suggest that Manchester United will walk to a victory in this one. It’s a fixture that Michael Carrick will have circled as one in which his team could boost their goal difference. The quality player-for-player that United have over Sabah FK should be enough for them to get the win, irrespective of how they play.
However, stranger things have happened, and unfortunately for United fans, they have happened to them in the past year. The EFL Cup saw United crash out to Grimsby Town in a game they should have won at a canter.
It’s an opportunity for Carrick to rotate his squad, especially with the Manchester derby on Sunday. Expect to see some of United’s fringe players feature and still have too much class for Sabah.
Prediction: Manchester United 4-0 Sabah FK
Related Articles
Time Proves Jose Mourinho Correct about United Squad
Manchester United Champions League Fixtures
Featured image courtesy of IMAGO/Zuma Wire