United study Odessa file

AT this stage of last season, Leicester were 2,500-1 to win the Premier League despite sitting top after two wins from two games.

Fast forward 12 months and Hull (who were 4-7 at the start of the season for relegation) sit third and also have two notches in their win column. Their price of winning the Premier League at the start of the season was 1,500-1 (the days of 5,000-1 have long gone – at least for the time being) and that has come in considerably to 500-1.

Yes, it is a lot shorter than the Leicester odds were last season but, after they showed that with organisation anything can happen, we are a lot more wary of every team in the division.

Mike Phelan deserves plaudits for Hull’s start and he is the favourite to land the job full-time at 1-6.

BY JOE CRILLY

MANCHESTER United will avoid a trip to war-torn eastern Ukraine when they face Zorya Luhansk in the Europa League.

United learned in yesterday’s group stage draw that they must travel to face the Ukrainian Premier League side on December 8.

But the match is set to be moved 560 miles across the country to Odessa on safety grounds, as their opponents have been unable to play in their home city of Luhansk for more than two years.

United were placed in Group A with Luhansk, Dutch club Feyenoord and Turkish side Fenerbahce, which means a reunion with former striker Robin van Persie, while Southampton have a glamour tie against Inter Milan and have also been drawn against Sparta Prague and Israel’s Hapoel Be’er Sheva, who gave Celtic a scare in their Champions League qualifier.

Ukrainian side Zorya are based near the border with Russia.

But Luhansk and its surrounding areas have been swept up in a deadly conflict since 2014, when Russia took control of the Crimean peninsula of southern Ukraine. The club have not played at their Avanhard Stadium since April 2014, while the UK Foreign Office has declared the city a no-go area for travellers.

Luhansk’s Europa League home games this season have been switched to the Chornomorets Stadium in Odessa, while they have been playing league games in Zaporizhia, 235 miles from their home.

Elsewhere in the group, United’s away match against Feyenoord on September 15 will take place in a stadium with a reduced capacity because of recent trouble involving the Dutch club.

Manager Jose Mourinho believes United face a tough group, saying: “We know it will be difficult, but I think that’s good.

“To have Manchester United in the competition against clubs with such quality and tradition as Feyenoord is good for us.”

MANCHESTER UNITED –