Europa League supercomputer predicts Man Utd vs Tottenham winner after 10,000 simulations

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur will battle to salvage something sweet from their disastrous seasons in Wednesday's Europa League final in Bilbao. Athletic Club's San Mames Stadium will host the high-stakes affair between the Premier League strugglers, with silverware and a Champions League spot up for grabs.

Ruben Amorim and Ange Postecoglou are in similar positions after overseeing nightmare campaigns that have applied pressure on both. United and Spurs are 16th and 17th, respectively, only spared a relegation scrap by the dramatic inferiority of the three teams facing the drop.

The Europa League offers an opportunity for one club to enter a crucial summer on a high, while the other will face the reality of their embarrassing underperformance.

You'd be fortunate to find a definitive answer if you asked a room of football fans who they expected to come out on top in Bilbao.

And it turns out the outcome would be the same if you enquired 10,000 different times. That's what Opta have done, and the results emphasise how tightly matched the two teams are.

After 10,000 current simulations, United lifted the trophy 50.7 per cent of the time, while Spurs ruled supreme in 49.3 per cent.

Following Friday's 1-0 defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Amorim shared his confidence about the crunch clash.

"Of course, we have to believe. I am really confident," the Portuguese tactician explained.

"I feel that my players are ready for this game. They know what it means, not just for us but for our fans and for the club.

"After this season, we are ready to fight for the one thing that can help us remember this season in a different way.

"So I am really confident. We are living in a season that is really strange because we are doing so well in Europe, but in the Premier League, we struggle.

"But we will be prepared for the final. It's a different context and a different game. The most important thing is the change in mentality in my team. They compete, and that is the most important thing for me."

Meanwhile, Postecoglou has made no secret of the importance of lifting a trophy to end Spurs' 17-year drought since the 2008 League Cup.

The Australian boss' future beyond the summer is under intense uncertainty, regardless of whether he achieves glory in Bilbao.

But by beating United for a fourth time this season, he will etch his name in Spurs' history books and set the club up for improvement next term.