Talking points ahead of this week’s Europa League action

The five British clubs must all travel for their first-leg games.

The Europa League returns on Thursday with five British clubs involved in the last 32 of the competition.

Arsenal, Leicester, Manchester United, Rangers and Tottenham all have to travel for their first-leg ties.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the key talking points ahead of the fixtures.

Can Bale find Spurs spark?

Brighton and Hove Albion v Tottenham Hotspur – Premier League – AMEX Stadium — Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho (right) criticised Gareth Bale recently for giving a “totally wrong” impression about his fitness on social media (Andrew Boyers/PA)

Double take on neutral soil

Arsenal will play their home leg against Portuguese side Benfica at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Greece, while coronavirus travel restrictions means the away game will take place in Rome (Nick Mashiter/PA)

United out to regain momentum

When Manchester United won 2-1 at Fulham on January 20 to look down on the rest of the Premier League, things were looking rosy for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side. Four weeks on and United trail neighbours Manchester City by seven points after winning only one of their last five league games. Solskjaer is likely to make changes for the clash with Real Sociedad, which is taking place in Turin due to the pandemic, but the Norwegian needs to rediscover the winning habit. One familiar face will be in the Sociedad side – Belgium winger Adnan Januzaj who broke into the United team as a teenager and made 63 appearances for the club between 2012 and 2017.

Leicester depth tested

Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester face a test of their resources against Slavia Prague in the Czech Republic. The Foxes are still fighting on three fronts, third in the Premier League and with an FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester United to look forward to next month. But Rodgers must shuffle his pack in the Czech capital. Full-backs James Justin, who is out for the season, Timothy Castagne and Ricardo Pereira are all missing, as are Ayoze Perez, Dennis Praet, Wes Morgan and Wesley Fofana. With a league trip to Aston Villa looming on Sunday, Rodgers has to weigh up his team selection.

Gerrard needs Euro fillip

Rangers v Kilmarnock – Scottish Premiership – Ibrox Stadium — Rangers manager Steven Gerrard said he felt “let down” by five Rangers players breaching Covid-19 restrictions (Andrew Milligan/PA)