Europa League returns! How will Premier League clubs fare?

The UEFA Europa League returns on Wednesday as two more Premier League sides go in search of European glory.

Following the opening matches of the UEFA Champions League last week, the focus now falls on Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Man Utd qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup last season, impressively beating Manchester City in the final, while Spurs earned their place by finishing fifth in the Premier League.

It is sure to be an emotional opening match for Erik ten Hag on Wednesday.

His Man Utd side begin the new-look league phase of the Europa League with a home match against Dutch side FC Twente, the club he supported as a boy before living the dream by making over 200 appearances in three separate spells for the Eredivisie side.

See: What's the new format of Europa League?

On Thursday it's Spurs' turn as they host the Azerbaijani champions Qarabag.

Eye-catching matches against the likes of Galatasaray and Roma lie ahead, while Ange Postecoglou will return to Scotland to take on Rangers - fierce rivals of his former club Celtic - and a trip to Hoffenheim is also on the horizon in Match round 7.

Match round 1 (25-26 Sep)

Manchester United v FC Twente (Wed 25 Sep, 20:00 BST)Tottenham Hotspur v Qarabag (Thu 26 Sep, 20:00 BST)

Ahead of the start of the 2024/25 Europa League, football writer Alex Keble looks at how the two English clubs could fare as they bid for glory in Europe.

Ten Hag needs to keep winning silverware

“Two trophies in two years” was the line ten Hag repeatedly deployed in the early parts of this season, before adding to the defence of his reign so far: “Apart from Manchester City, that’s more than any other club in English football.” 

The Dutchman has laid out the terms upon which he should be judged, and so United’s cup competitions must gain heightened significance and scrutiny.  

The Europa League is the one to target, and not just because it provides qualification to the main event. Ten Hag will also want to atone for his side’s hugely disappointing showing in last year’s Champions League. 

United finished bottom of their group with four points from six matches, conceding 15 goals. That followed a quarter-final appearance in the Europa League the year before, when Sevilla – dropping down from the Champions League – beat Man Utd 5-2 on aggregate. 

Ten Hag might be more pleased than most, then, by the Europa League’s significant format change. Eight matches in one 36-team league makes it easier to avoid crashing out early, and it is also helpful that clubs no longer drop from the Champions League into the Europa League knockout stages.

There is no reason Man Utd cannot go all the way. Indeed, they are the bookies’ second favourites behind Spurs, and in Ten Hag they have a head coach who once reached the Champions League semi-finals with Ajax.

However, playing eight Europa League matches - seven of which are on a Thursday - may take its toll, especially given that three of those eight games are followed by a tough Premier League fixture: Spurs (H), Aston Villa (A) and Man City (A). 

Nevertheless, United's improved defence this season, and their tendency to approach bigger matches with reactive football built on a lower block and fast breaks, means they have little to fear from a new league system that gives ample opportunity to get through to the knockouts. 

Nothing to fear, that is, aside from a hostile atmosphere when they visit their former manager Jose Mourinho and his Fenerbahce team in Match round three. 

Postecoglou’s energetic football will be tested by schedule 

“I always win things in my second year.” Those were big words – defiant words - from Postecoglou, a man with supreme belief in his ideas and confident he can end the club's 16-year trophy drought.

But the big question mark hanging over Spurs’ first European campaign under his charge is how such a furiously hard-pressing outfit will manage the Thursday-Sunday schedule. 

It might concern supporters that their team ran out of steam towards the end of last season, finishing two points shy of Villa in fourth despite being blessed with free midweeks. Unai Emery’s side played 14 Thursday night games yet still pipped them.  

Spurs are the pre-tournament favourites and have won this competition twice when it was called the UEFA Cup, in the inaugural 1971/72 season and again in 1983/84.

If they are to win it again they will need to manage either 15 or 17 extra matches, and that’s before considering Postecoglou will also expect an improvement on the total of three matches that his side played in the domestic cup competitions last season. 

The north London club only know one way to play, as both fans and critics of Postecoglou will regularly bring up, and that way is all-action. In the Premier League this season their average number of passes per defensive action (PPDA), a measure of pressing intensity, is 7.1 – significantly lower than next-best Brighton & Hove Albion on 8.7.

Tiredness could be a problem, but not the only one. Midweek European games also mean significantly less time on the training ground to work on tactics. It’s an issue that Postecoglou, who understandably rarely went deep in Europe with Celtic, isn’t used to dealing with.

Then again, Spurs have been handed a particularly straightforward set of games, their toughest tests being a home match against Roma and a trip to Hoffenheim, and aside from Man Utd (A) and Brighton (A) after the first two Match rounds, the Premier League fixture list has been kind.  

That might allow Spurs to build momentum. In fact, the manic fury of football could even be what drives them through emotional nights in the latter stages. 

Fans are just as desperate as Postecoglou to see big matches under the floodlights, and Spurs’ proud history in this competition will only help fuel a brilliant atmosphere in the knockouts. 

Self-belief goes a long way, after all, and Postecoglou has that in spades. 

Match round 2 (3 Oct)

Ferencvaros v Spurs (Thu 3 Oct, 17:45 BST)Porto v Man Utd (Thu 3 Oct, 20:00 BST)

Match round 3 (23-24 Oct)

Spurs v AZ Alkmaar (Thu 24 Oct, 20:00 BST)Fenerbahce v Man Utd (Thu 24 Oct, 20:00 BST)

Match round 4 (6-7 Nov)

Galatasaray v Spurs (Thu 7 Nov, 17:45 GMT)Man Utd v PAOK (Thu 7 Nov, 20:00 GMT)

Match round 5 (28 Nov)

Man Utd v Bodo/Glimt (Thu 28 Nov, 20:00 GMT)Spurs v Roma (Thu 28 Nov, 20:00 GMT)

Match round 6 (11-12 Dec)

Viktoria Plzen v Man Utd (Thu 12 Dec, 17:45 GMT)Rangers v Spurs (Thu 12 Dec, 20:00 GMT)

Match round 7 (21-23 Jan)

Hoffenheim v Spurs (Thu 23 Jan, 17:45 GMT)Man Utd v Rangers (Thu 23 Jan, 20:00 GMT)

Match round 8 (30 Jan)

Spurs v Elfsborg (Thu 30 Jan, 20:00 GMT)FCSB v Man Utd (Thu 30 Jan, 20:00 GMT)

Spurs and Man Utd's European and Premier League fixtures   TOT MUN UEL QAR (H) TWE (H) MW6 MUN (A) TOT (H) UEL FTC (A) POR (A) MW7 BHA (A) AVL (A) MW8 WHU (H) BRE (H) UEL AZ (H) FB (A) MW9 CRY (A) WHU (A) MW10 AVL (H) CHE (H) UEL GS (A) PKT (H) MW11 IPS (H) LEI (H) MW12 MCI (A) IPS (A) UEL ROM (H) BOD (H) MW13 FUL (H) EVE (H) MW14 BOU (A) ARS (A) MW15 CHE (H) NFO (H) UEL RAN (A) VPL (A) MW16 SOU (A) MCI (A) MW17 LIV (H) BOU (H) MW18 NFO (A) WOL (A) MW19 WOL (H) NEW (H) MW20 NEW (H) LIV (A) MW21 ARS (A) SOU (H) MW22 EVE (A) BHA (H) UEL TSG (A) RAN (H) MW23 LEI (H) FUL (A) UEL ELF (H) FCS (A) MW24 BRE (A) CRY (H)

See: Full list of UEFA Europa League fixtures

Knockout stage dates

Knockout round playoffs: 13 and 20 February 2025Round of 16: 6 and 13 March 2025Quarter-finals: 10 and 17 April 2025Semi-finals: 1 May and 8 May 2025Final: 21 May 2025, Bilbao