Jones and Evans to miss Olympiakos first leg

Manchester United will be without defensive duo Phil Jones and Jonny Evans for this evening’s Champions League last sixteen first leg match against Olympiakos.

Nani will also miss the game through injury, while Juan Mata is cup tied having already played in the competition for Chelsea though Rafael and Danny Welbeck are both available.

With Manchester City and Arsenal both having lost the first legs of their ties to Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively, United and Premier League leaders Chelsea are likely to be the only English sides, if any, to continue past this stage of the competition.

United have face the current Greek champions four times in the Champions League over the years, winning on each occasion.

They have been knocked out in the first knock-out round in each of the last two seasons, and will be extra keen to make sure that doesn’t happen this time around with the tournament representing David Moyes’s only real chance of securing major silverware in his first campaign with the club.

Also, with the reigning Premier League champions eleven points shy of Liverpool in fourth place in English top flight, the only way they are likely to qualify for next season’s Champions League is by going all the way this season.