Manchester United look to boost their top four ambition as they welcome Southampton to Old Trafford in Monday Night Football.
Victory will see Man Utd climb to third after defeats for Chelsea and Leicester this weekend, whilst a win could see Southampton climb above Everton into 11th position.
Team News
Embed from Getty ImagesMan Utd have no fresh injury concerns after Thursday’s victory at Aston Villa, as Axel Tuanzebe and Phil Jones remain ruled out with unspecified injuries.
Southampton could welcome Jannik Vestergaard back from a muscle injury which kept him out of Thursday’s draw at Everton.
Yan Valery (muscle), Sofiane Boufal (thigh), Moussa Djenepo (calf) and Nathan Tella (undisclosed) remain sidelined.
Stat Attack
- Manchester United are unbeaten in their last eight meetings against Southampton in all competitions (W4, D8).
- Southampton are unbeaten in three of their last five trips to Old Trafford (W2, D1, L2).
- Three of last four league meetings have ended in draws, with Utd winning the other match by a 3-2 result in March 2019 (W1, D3).
- Southampton are yet to score a penalty against Man Utd after 41 previous Premier League meetings, despite winning one penalty.
- No Utd player has collected more yellow cards this season than Fred, who has picked up eight yellow cards in 28 league appearances.
Prediction
Southampton have enjoyed a solid restart but will need to put in another defensive shift like they did against Man City last weekend, because United are currently in fierce form with at least three league goals scored in each of their last four league games.
Defending therefore has to be absolute spot on throughout every second of every minute from the Saints, otherwise I can’t see anything other than a home win but Southampton should have enough about them to keep the score respectable.
Prediction: Manchester United 2-0 Southampton