Manchester United must make a statement and bounce back from a derby defeat, but face a tough test in undefeated Dutch side Feyenoord away from home at the De Kuip Stadium.
The Reds put in a shambolic opening 40 minutes against rivals Manchester City last Saturday and have since seen Pep Guardiola's side romp to a 4-0 victory against Borussia Monchengladbach in Europe's most elite club competition. United are in the second-string competition, the UEFA Europa League, and nothing but a win, and a comfortable one, will do if they're title aspirations are real.
Feyenoord are unbeaten in their first five games, seeing off ADO Den Haag most recently in a 3-1 victory.
Team News
Feyenoord
There are a few familiar faces for Premier League fans at Feyenoord, particularly so in captain Dirk Kuyt, who faced United as a Liverpool player many times. Last season, Kuyt netted 23 goals. At the other end of the pitch, there's another Liverpool man in Brad Jones, having joined the Dutch side during the summer transfer window and instantly become the first choice goalkeeper. Eljero Elia, who had less success than Kuyt in the Premier League, is also at Feyenoord, he had a loan spell at Southampton a couple of years ago but it wasn't immensely successful. This season, however, he's netted thrice in two appearances.
Feyenoord manager Giovanni van Bronckhurst, who English fans will also recognise, has revealed that his side have no injuries and, unlike Mourinho, he will rest no one as they look to get off to the a winning start in the Europa League group stages. They do, however, have a big match against PSV Eindhoven at the weekend, but that has not deterred him.
Manchester United
Captain Wayne Rooney has been rested for this game, as Jose Mourinho will have you believe. The Portugueuse manager insistsed the decision not to bring Rooney to Rotterdam for tonight's match was to keep him fully fit for Sunday's Premier League fixture against Watford. Other exclusions from Mourinho's 20-man squad include Antonio Valencia and Luke Shaw as well as Jesse Lingard and the injured Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the latter two at some fault for the derby defeat.
Mourinho revealed that defender Phil Jones will be unavailable for yet another month after suffering knee ligament damage.
United fans are hoping to see some of the current fringe players be given a chance such as Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin, although Mourinho has already confirmed that Marcus Rashford will start the game.
History
While United have faced Feyenoord relatively few times, the trip to the De Kuip Stadium will bring back good memories for the traveling fans who may have seen the Reds beat Barcelona in the Cup Winners' Cup at "The Tub" back in 1991, one of Sir Alex Ferguson's first trophies with the club.