Manchester United face Southampton in the Premier League

Manchester United are back in action following the international break as they travel to the St. Mary’s Stadium to take on Southampton, who have returned to the Premier League having won promotion from the Championship last season. The fixture is scheduled for Saturday, 14th September, at 12:30pm UK time.

The Red Devils are under severe pressure to bounce back this time around having been beaten and largely outplayed by Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool in their last couple of outings in the league.

Louis Saha has already hinted that Erik ten Hag’s position as the head coach could be ‘untenable’ with another defeat and rightly so considering that he has a far better squad this season than he did last time around.

It will be a good watch to see what the Dutchman has also picked up over the international break from his last two setbacks and if indeed the United players are prepared to put his homework to good effect against the Saints.

Team News

Southampton

Southampton’s injury woes are nowhere as grave as Manchester United’s as their only confirmed absentee for the visit of the Red Devils is Gavin Bazunu. His Achilles injury will rule him out until the end of October, so he still has a considerable time to spend on the treatment table before a comeback could be made.

Juan Larios, Kamaldeen Sulemana and Ross Stewart are all doubtful and their presence for Saturday’s game will be assessed on a day-to-day basis.

The Saints have scored only once in the Premier League so far and it came through Yukinari Sugawara. The 24-year-old has started establishing himself in the team and will feature against Manchester United on Saturday.

Predicted Southampton XI (3-5-2): Ramsdale; Stephens, Bednarek, Harwood-Bellis; Walker-Peters, Aribo, Downes, Smallbone, Sugawara; Armstrong, Diaz

Manchester United

As many as six Manchester United players remain absent for the fixture against Southampton. Leny Yoro, Mason Mount, Rasmus Hojlund and Tyrell Malacia are certainly going to miss out, while the likes of Luke Shaw and Victor Lindelof also remain doubtful owing to their respective muscular problems. Meanwhile, Manuel Ugarte’s debut could also have to wait a little longer as Ten Hag said some time ago that he will need some practice to gain enough fitness.

Matthijs de Ligt is likely to start against Southampton but is struggling with form having performed very poorly in Netherlands’ UEFA Nations League clashes against Bosnia and Germany. Bruno Fernandes, however, finally broke his duck for the season for Portugal against Scotland in the international break and will look to build a good run of form for his club in the upcoming weeks.

The offensive department needs to improve as a whole and against a Southampton side which has lost all three matches so far in the Premier League, there may be a good opportunity for the players to boost their morale by finding the back of the net.

Predicted Manchester United XI (4-2-3-1): Onana; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez, Dalot; Casemiro, Mainoo; Garnacho, Fernandes, Rashford; Zirkzee

Key stats

• The joint heaviest Premier League win in the history of the competition came when Manchester United beat Southampton 9-0 in February 2021.
• Manchester United have not lost in any of their last three visits to the St. Mary’s Stadium, which happens to be the venue of their meeting with Southampton on Saturday. Indeed, the Red Devils boast a formidable home record against them in the Premier League as well with no defeats in their previous three home clashes at Old Trafford either.
• So far in the Premier League, Manchester United have scored 99 goals against Southampton which means a century could be on its way on Saturday.

Key battle

Yukinari Sugawara vs Diogo Dalot

Sugawara has been the danger man for Southampton in terms of attacking gameplay. The Japanese wingback is an energetic player who is capable of influencing the game single-handedly. As a result, United will need to find a way to keep tabs on him.

Diogo Dalot will come face-to-face against him on a number of occasions and he too is a handful on both ends of the pitch, and has been one of the better Man United players so far this season. How the duo squares up will go a long way in deciding the result of the match.

Prediction

Southampton 1-2 Manchester United

Manchester United’s defence is not much better than Southampton’s with both teams conceding five goals so far in the Premier League. With a couple of new names at the back and Casemiro also struggling with form, Southampton may be able to find just their second PL goal of the season against United.

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However, they have enough quality in attack and if the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Joshua Zirkzee are more clinical than they have been of late, a narrow win should be on the cards for the Red Devils.