Manchester United have a great chance to win their first major trophy in four years on Wednesday evening, as they face Villarreal in the Europa League final.
United won this competition in the 2016/17 season, beating Ajax in the final, in what remains the club's most recent major trophy.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side are set to be without key defender Harry Maguire, who is still recovering from the ankle injury he sustained against Aston Villa recently.
Axel Tuanzebe is likely to start alongside Victor Lindelof in defence rather than Eric Bailly, with David de Gea expected to start in goal over Dean Henderson.
* Click here to subscribe to Level up! The Esports and Gaming Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Spreaker *
So, what team could Solskjaer go with against Villarreal? And, what could the final score be? We used FIFA 21 to get a score prediction, and this is what happened...
--
We used kick-off mode within FIFA 21 but didn't select a team to control; we then selected the teams and watched the match play out by itself, to give us a prediction.
The AI difficulty was set to legendary, with the line-up updated with the latest transfers, injuries and suspensions.
We predict that Villarreal could set up in a 4-4-2 formation, with their line-up as follows: Rulli; Gaspar, Albiol, Torres, Pedraza; Trigueros, Parejo, Capoue, Gomez; Bacca, Moreno.
We predict that United could set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with their line-up as follows: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Tuanzebe, Shaw; McTominay, Fred; Rashford, Fernandes, Pogba; Cavani.
--
From the first minute of this simulated game, the approach of both teams was obvious. United were looking to dominate the ball and create chances through possession, while Villarreal were happy to sit back and absorb the pressure, before hitting on the counter-attack.
It made for an absorbing encounter, but one with few clear-cut chances.
The first-half ended goalless, with neither side creating anything meaningful in front of goal, in what was a typical nervy final.
But that was all about to change in the second half, with United taking off the handbrake and taking the game to their opponents.
Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford both went close with efforts from outside of the area, but it was Edinson Cavani who got the all-important opening goal.
In the 70th minute, Fernandes received the ball in a great position between the lines and threaded a pass into the path of Cavani, who produced a good finish in at the near post.
The Spanish side did mount a response late on, but didn't cause United too many problems.
In fact, their only real chance was a powerful long-range effort from Etienne Capoue, which brought a good save out of David de Gea.
In the end, United showed their quality and won this game fairly easily, despite the scoreline.
Predicted FIFA 21 Europa League final score: Villarreal 0-1 United
FIFA 21 predicts that United have a great chance of winning the Europa League on Wednesday evening, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side having the quality to dominate the game and lift a major trophy.
What do you think the score will be in the Europa League final? Have your say in the comments below.
--
FIFA 21 is out now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, with FIFA 21 next-gen also now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Additionally, fans who jump into FIFA 21 can also benefit from Dual Entitlement, enabling them to upgrade their copy of the game from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5, or Xbox One to Xbox Series X/S at no extra cost.
