Matt Holland: Manchester United should earn important win at limited Southampton

Four games into the season is probably too early to be saying that this is a game which Manchester United can’t afford to lose but there is a sense that they have got to get something from their trip to Southampton.

Failing to win at Wolves is one thing but dropping all three points at home to Crystal Palace is quite another and already Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is feeling the heat.

Palace represented the wrong sort of opposition for United, a side who will stay tight and organised, sacrifice possession and look to play on the counter.

The problem is that Southampton are a similar sort of team to Palace and, even though they are at home, they know their best way of beating United is to operate like the away team.

Solskjaer needs to adapt quickly but I fancy he can get his tactics spot on at St Mary’s and get United a crucial win.

I saw Saints at Brighton last Saturday and I certainly wasn’t convinced. They went into the game with no points and, even though they started quite brightly, Brighton were getting on top when Florin Andone was sent off. Albion were definitely unlucky to lose.

The bottom line is that I think United are the better side of the two, I think they will react positively to last week’s defeat and I’ll take the visitors.

The North London derby is the big game of the weekend and I can see goals at both ends.

I’ve seen Arsenal and Spurs live this season, the Gunners when they made hard work of beating Burnley and Tottenham when they had to go down to the wire to get the better of Aston Villa.

Neither side are at their best yet, that much is clear, and there are defensive frailties which can be exploited at both ends of the pitch.

We saw the weaknesses in David Luiz at Liverpool last week but it isn’t just quick, silky stars such as Mo Salah who can expose the Brazilian. I saw Burnley’s Ashley Barnes give Luiz a really tough time a week earlier.

Luiz now has to gather himself for the prospect of a showdown with Harry Kane.

I think Spurs are light on options up front and reliant on Christian Eriksen for some imagination around the box. But Kane remains a real test for the Arsenal defence.

At the other end of the pitch Arsenal look lively and they are undoubtedly a team with goals in them. You can make a convincing case for all three outcomes in this fixture but I’d suggest backing over 3.5 goals.

I can also see goals at Turf Moor where Burnley take on Liverpool.

I like what I’ve seen of Burnley and anyone who plays them knows they are in for an almighty challenge.

Sean Dyche won’t care that Liverpool are getting 70-plus per cent of possession or that the corner count is one-way traffic. He’ll preach his team to stay competitive, disciplined, tackle hard and go from A to B directly when the chances arise. That means playing into the channels and looking for Barnes and Chris Wood, who are a handful for any defence.

Burnley can find the net, I have no doubt about that, but Liverpool should score more.

I would have fancied Wolves at Everton last season but I know how difficult the Thursday-Sunday schedule is to deal with having gone through it in 2001 with Ipswich in the old Uefa Cup.

It is a different challenge for players and Wolves look like a side who are struggling to adapt.

Wolves have drawn all three of their Premier League matches – take them to make that four out of four at Goodison Park.

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