(Football news) The two teams will meet for the first time in their history and are both still searching for their first victory in this season’s competition.

Over 12 months have now passed since Manchester United celebrated a victory on the continent; they head into Thursday’s contest having drawn four and lost two of their last six European games, which is their worst run since 1980 to 1983 (also six), and they have never gone seven games without a win.

The Red Devils are currently languishing in 21st place in the 36-team Europa League table after drawing each of their opening three fixtures in the newly-formed league phase under former manager Erik ten Hag, picking up a solitary point against FC Twente, Porto, and Fenerbahce, despite leading in all three games.

A disappointing 1-1 home draw with Twente and an eventful 3-3 draw away against Porto were followed by another 1-1 draw in Turkey against Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce a fortnight ago, with Christian Eriksen’s opener cancelled out early in the second half by Youssef En-Nesyri.

Ten Hag has since been sacked, and Ruud van Nistelrooy has overseen two matches as interim boss—a 5-2 EFL Cup win over Leicester City and last weekend’s drab 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the Premier League—with the Dutchman to take charge of two more matches this week before Ruben Amorim officially takes the reins on November 11.

Van Nistelrooy is tasked with reigniting Manchester United’s Europa League campaign, and the Red Devils will fancy their chances of success on Thursday, as they have won all six of their previous home meetings with Greek opposition by an aggregate score of 20-1.

Competing in the Europa League for the first time in four years after reaching the quarterfinals in the Conference League last season, PAOK are one of 11 teams, along with Manchester United, who have failed to win any of their opening three games in this season’s competition.

The White-Blacks suffered defeat in their opening two fixtures against Galatasaray (3-1) and FCSB (1-0), but they have since picked up their first point after coming from two goals down against Viktoria Plzen with just six minutes remaining to salvage a 2-2 draw on home soil a fortnight ago.

Sitting 30th in the 36-team Europa League table, PAOK have won just one of their last 13 matches (D4 L8) in Europe’s secondary club competition, while they have also suffered defeat in five of their last six continental away games.

However, Razvan Lucescu’s side have made a fairly strong start to the defence of their Greek Super League title this term, as they have accumulated 20 points from their opening 10 games—most recently beating Lamia 2-1 away from home last weekend—and sit just one point behind leaders Aris Thessaloniki.

Before preparing for a tricky home encounter with Olympiacos on Sunday, PAOK will shift their focus to Thursday’s European clash with Manchester United and will be seeking to avoid going three games without a win against the English opposition, having lost their last two such matches against Chelsea in 2018-19. PAOK had previously gone four games unbeaten against English clubs, winning and drawing a game each with Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

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