Next Monday, 8th of December 2014, Manchester United will travel down south to measure forces with Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium for round 15 of the English Premier League, on a match where the Red Devils, who are clearly recovering from the abyss they had been drowning into for quite some time, will want to extend their winning streak, regardless of the fact of facing one of the best teams at English football these days.

United’s recent four consecutive wins have certainly swept away the tempest that flooded Old Trafford earlier this season. After their embarrassing start, the Red Devils are already on the fourth position of the league table behind Chelsea, Manchester City and their upcoming opponents, Southampton.

After a solid 3-0 win over Hull last weekend, United granted the three points once again in the middle of the week, when they entertained Stoke City at the Theatre of Dreams. Louis Van Gaal’s boys won the match by 2-1 but their win was everything but easy and, if it wasn’t for David de Gea’s outstanding couple of saves in the dying moments of the match, the Potters could have left Old Trafford with at least one point in their bags. Although United are clearly improving, there is still plenty for Van Gaal to do, especially in the defensive department that continues with underachieving performances after fourteen matches played.

The Red Devils’ match at St Mary’s Stadium will certainly be very complicated and the large number of players sidelined due to injury certainly doesn’t help. The Dutch manager will probably still not be able to rely on the contribution of Di Maria, Blind and Shaw for the clash against the Saints.

As for Southampton, they are, by far, the most pleasant surprise at the EPL this season and not even their two consecutive defeats against Manchester City and Arsenal have served to diminish the outstanding achievements they have reached so far.

Ronald Koeman’s “new” Southampton failed to overcome Arsenal at Emirates Stadium last Wednesday and conceded their fourth defeat of the season. The Saints’ overall performance was not as good as it used to be in the recent past and if it wasn’t for Fraser Forster’s vintage display, they would have certainly conceded plenty more goals.

Their next match against the Red Devils is of the utmost importance in order for the team to overcome their recent painful defeats.

Although Manchester United have improved a lot recently, it is hard to name any favourites for this particular match, which will probably end up in a draw.

Southampton

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - LLDWW

Manchester United

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0

Recent Form - WWWWL

Possible Line-ups

Southampton (4-3-3) - Forster - Clyne - Fonte - Aldewereld - Bertrand - Wanyama - Cork - Yoshida - Tadic - Long - Pelle

Manchester United (4-1-3-2) – De Gea - Valencia - Rojo - Smalling - Young - Carrick - Mata - Fellaini - Herrera - Van Persie - Falcao

Prediction

Southampton 1 Manchester United 1