The recent bout of injuries within Manchester United has manager Jose Mourinho bemoaning the clubs place in the English Premier League. With nine injuries affecting the team over the past few months Mourinho feels it is possibly too late to gain enough points to put them back in the running. Due to having too many players absent, those remaining are fatigued and the team has paid the price.

The Portuguese manager has spoken often about the intense schedule of the English Premier League and Europa League, and how it has put pressure on his squad. Currently sitting just one point behind Manchester City they have four more chances to change the outcome; Arsenal on May 7th, Tottenham Hotspur on May 14th, Southampton on May 17th and Chrystal Palace on May 21st. At least two of these teams present serious competition and are expected to give Manchester United a ‘run for their money’; which is reflected in the football betting odds for Jose’s squad finishing in the Top Four.

Jose Mourinho currently has to cope with injury-affected players Shaw, Bailly, Fosu-Mensah, Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Rojo, Smalling, Jones and Wilson; and even though some of these players will become available, they will be far from their best form. The Old Trafford faithful has been encouraged with the return of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Paul Pogba who were back in training this week. The fact that these players are on the field, and Pogba is fit enough to play in the match with Celta Vigo in the Europa League semi-final, should put the smile back on Mourinho’s face.

Manchester United now have their sights set firmly on the Europa League as their opportunity for entry into the Champions League next season. With only 3 more matches and key players back on the team, Mourinho is optimistic for a successful outcome. This is definitely reflected with popular online bookmakers like Sportingbet shortening their odds on the chances of Manchester United winning the Europa League for the first time in the club’s history.

Sunday’s game against Arsenal will give Jose Mourinho and Arsène Wenger something to think about as both teams have suffered with the absence of injured players. April saw Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny, David Ospina, Danny Welbeck, Shkodran Mustafi, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain leave the field with injuries to the back, achilles, foot etc.

However, Wenger is expected to stick with the 3-4-2-1 formation he has used in his last four games and hopefully drive his team to victory. Manchester United needs to gain all three points from this game if they are to keep their hopes alive of finishing in the Top Four of the League. It is hinted that Mourinho will field a weakened team against Arsenal due to his shift of prospective (towards the Europa League) so the results for Sunday’s game could go either way.

Premier League betting operators, as well as sports betting punters will be keeping a keen eye on developments leading up to Sunday’s game and the rest of the League matches. So, even though the end of the season draws to a close; there is still loads to play for and exciting football to be seen to the end!