Europa League: Why Manchester United should be wary of Fenerbahce at Old Trafford

Manchester United have had a few classic European nights against Turkish sides over the years. Galatasaray's 'Welcome to Hell' banners went down in fan culture folklore. Meanwhile, Fenerbahce inflicted the Red Devils first home defeat in UEFA competition and Wayne Rooney scored a Champions League debut hat-trick against the same side back in 2004-05.

United and Fenerbahce are no strangers having first locked horns back in the 1996-97 edition of the Champions League. The Red Devils beat the Yellow Canaries 2-0 in Istanbul but Fenerbahce won the return fixture 1-0 thanks to a goal from Elvir Bolic - United's first ever UEFA home loss. The two sides met again in the 2004-05 group stage with United winning the home game 6-2. Fenerbahce did however, manage to beat the Premier League giants 3-0 at the Sukru Saracoglu stadium with a hat-trick from Tuncay Sanli

Fenerbahce face a 2,700km trip from Istanbul to Manchester but despite being on opposite ends of the continent - well technically the Canaries are based in Asia - the two clubs have more in common than meets the eye. The obvious connection that stands out is Robin van Persie. The Dutch striker scored 58 goals in 105 games for the Red Devils between 2012-15 winning his first and only Premier League title while at the club.

Van Persie joined Fenerbahce on a three-year deal from United last season and was given a rockstar welcome. The 33-year-old was greeted at the airport by thousands upon thousands of raucous, flare waving, die hard fans. United boss Jose Mourinho would have received a similar reception had he joined the Istanbul based outfit this summer. There were rumours that he was considering a move to Turkey and he does have a soft spot for Fenerbahce as they were the first club outside of Portugal to offer Mourinho a managerial role back in 2003. The Portuguese manager even travelled out to Istanbul for talks and even though a deal was not struck he talks fondly of the interest shown by Fenerbahce whenever he is over in Turkey.

Speaking at a symposium in Istanbul in 2012 Mourinho was quoted by Turkish-football.com as saying: "I was coaching Porto and still young when Fenerbahce made me an offer. They were the first foreign club to make me an offer."

Mourinho has never actually faced Fenerbahce or their head coach Dick Advocaat despite him being placed in charge of Sunderland for a brief spell in 2015. Advocaat was also Dutch assistant head coach prior to taking charge of the Navy Blue-Yellows and will be very familiar with the Red Devils Dutch contingent - Daley Blind, Memphis Depay and Timothy Fosu-Mensah - as will Van Persie, former Sunderland winger Jeremain Lens and ex PSG full-back Gregory van der Viel. During his time in charge of Zenit St Petersburg, Advocaat took on United for the first time as a coach and ended up lifting the trophy after recording a 2-1 victory in the 2008 UEFA Super Cup.

Advocaat was appointed head coach with little over a week remaining in the transfer window. The Dutch manager replaced Vitor Pereira who despite having a frosty relationship with the fans and media did a decent job in his first season in charge. Fenerbahce finished the league campaign as runners-up but then did the unforgivable and lost the Turkish Cup final against rivals Galatasaray. The former Porto boss sparked a major rift with the supporters and the board over his treatment of Van Persie. Pereira used the experienced striker in a power play, dropping him from time to time to make a statement that this was his team and he that he was in control. Van Persie still managed to score 22 goals but the manager's decision to make use of him as a substitute and not give him a regular first team role infuriated sections of the fan base who were desperate to see the 33-year-old lock down a key role in the team.

Pereira essentially built the current side bringing in central midfield duo Ozan Tufan and Josef de Souza, defenders Simon Kjaer, Martin Skrtel, Sener Ozbayrakli and Van der Wiel, winger Volkan Sen and strikers Van Persie as well as Fernandao. Advocaat had little over a week to try and make his mark on the squad bringing in Jeremain Lens and Moussa Sow. The Yellow Canaries are going through teething problems with their new manager who is still working out his strongest side and how to get the best out of his current squad.

Pereira had 14 points seven games into the league campaign last season while Advocaat has picked up just nine points in as many games however, it would be unfair to make a like for like comparison considering he did not have the luxury of a pre-season and was not involved in planning the squad. Fenerbahce are not in the best of form domestically. There is a three-way tie at the top of the table among Istanbul clubs but the Canaries are not in the mix. In fact they have fallen eight points behind Galatasaray, Besiktas and this season's surprise package Basaksehir. To make matters worse they will be without star midfielder Ozan Tufan who was ruled out for two months after picking up an injury over the international break. Creative midfielder Salih Ucan will be sidelined for the United game while Lens and Sow face a race against time to regain full match fitness.

The Yellow Canaries have not found their stride in the league but it has been a different story in Europe. After holding Zorya to a 1-1 draw in Ukraine thanks to a last-gasp goal from Kjaer the Canaries made light work of Feyenoord at the Sukru Saracoglu to move into first place in Group A. Advocaat will almost certainly field his strongest available side against United who may be a little worse for wear following the derby against Liverpool on Monday. It remains to be seen whether Mourinho will make rotations and play a weakened team but he will be wary of making too many changes following the Feyenoord defeat.

Advocaat is likely to start Volkan Demirel in goal. Skrtel is expected to accompany Kjaer as the team's centre-back pairing while Van der Wiel and one of either Hasan Ali or Ismail Koybasi could find themselves as full-backs. Mehmet Topal and Josef de Souza are almost certain to sit in-front of the defence with Alper Potuk filling in as an attacking midfielder. Lens - if fit - and Volkan Sen could start out wide with either Van Persie or Emenike up front. Alternatively Van Persie could fill in playing a number 10 role behind Emenike with Potuk and Sen out wide.

Van Persie has not established himself as a first team regular just yet under the new management but he did recently recover from injury and was given a starting role in the shock 1-1 draw against Alanyaspor on Sunday.

Despite not being in the best of form Fenerbahce have shown glimpses of what they are capable of and have managed to raise their game in European competition. The Canaries lack creativity in midfield and the job of Souza and Topal will be to break up attacks and make life difficult for the opposition.

Fenerbahce will be most dangerous down the wings. Lens has been arguably the Istanbul giants player of the season providing four assists already - more than his season tally at Sunderland - and will be a major loss if he does not recover in time.

Sen also poses an attacking threat and the full-backs like to get forward. Van Persie would like nothing more than to prove himself to Fenerbahce fans with a goal against his former team while Emenike poses a more physical threat and his explosive acceleration could make him more useful for a counter-attacking game.

United head into the game as the clear favourites but that was also the case back in 1996. Fenerbahce will be desperate to make an impression against one of the biggest brands in world football and as United have already shown they are vulnerable to an upset this season.