Southampton v Man United: Premier League preview, predictions & free tips

BT Sport 1, 12.30pm Saturday

Three of Southampton’s four goalscorers this season limped out of their EFL Cup success at Fulham on Tuesday, leaving the Saints short of attacking threats for Saturday's lunchtime visit of Manchester United.

Nathan Redmond, new signing Moussa Djenepo and boy wonder Michael Obafemi were all injured in Southampton’s 1-0 win at Craven Cottage, leaving bemused Saints’ fans wondering why Ralph Hasenhuttl fielded such a strong side.

Anyway, he did and they won, moving one step closer towards a Wembley final, although it was a triumph which came at a price and gives United a massive edge.

That said, the Red Devils are themselves looking increasingly reliant on a shrinking band of frontmen having let Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez leave in recent weeks, and suddenly a fixture which normally contains goals galore may not be quite the free-for-all punters have come to expect.

It’s early days to be paying too much attention to the league table but there’s a sense that both Southampton and United have found their levels, the Saints striving to fend off relegation and United desperately trying to cling on to the coattails of the the top four.

Given that Southampton have failed to win any of their last eight home Premier League games against United and have a pretty ropey record at St Mary’s, the visitors get the nod at odds-against.

It might not be the high-scoring belter many envisage even though both teams have scored in 14 of Southampton’s last 15 at home in the Premier League. United’s back five are still circumspect as reality begins to bite following the hype which accompanied Harry Maguire’s decent debut and these are two teams who are actually set up to cancel each other out.

Hasenhuttl has ticked off most tactical set-ups in four league and cup games already but, with the pace of Redmond and Djenepo out of the equation, he looks likely to play five at the back and look to his wing-backs to provide width.

They are the home team but they will play on the counter just as they did – with little effect – against both Burnley and Liverpool. At Brighton last week they were second-best for most of the match against ten men yet managed to scrape a 2-0 win.

There’s nothing secretive about the way United play under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

They look fairly disjointed, especially without the ball, but their go-to approach is to unleash the pace of Daniel James and Marcus Rashford in the hope they can cause real damage.

The doom-mongers are gathering over Old Trafford after the 1-1 draw at Wolves and 2-1 home loss to Crystal Palace. But had Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford scored their penalties in those games, which they dominated, they would quite possibly have nine points.

United haven’t won away in seven games in all competitions but they look to have the classier tools in key areas and with a bit of the luck that was missing from their last two outings can chalk up three points against modest opponents who they have a happy knack of beating.

Recommendation
Manchester United
2pts 11-10 general

Team news
Southampton
Nathan Redmond, Michael Obafemi and Moussa Djenepo are out. Ryan Bertrand has returned to training.

Manchester United
Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial picked up injuries against Palace and are out. Diogo Dalot, Eric Bailly and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are also crocked.

Key stat
Saints have kept just one clean sheet in their last 15 Premier League home games.

Follow us on Twitter

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport