Manchester United vs Southampton Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Jan 19, 2016 @ 10:46 pm

Louis Van Gaal continued his 100% record as Manchester United boss over Liverpool with his 4^th victory from four against the Merseyside club. It was arguably the most one sided of the four contests as Liverpool mounted a siege on David De Gea’s goal but the Spanish goalkeeper produced yet another fine display for the club and cemented his place as one of the best goalkeepers ever to grace the Premier League. His man of the match display kept United in the game and they stole the 3 points in the final 10 minutes when Wayne Rooney seized upon Marouane Fellaini’s header that struck the crossbar. United jumped back into 5^th spot and kept up with Tottenham who comfortably beat Sunderland 4-1. United will be casting an eye on Southampton winger Sadio Mane who the club have been strongly linked with in the January transfer window and he’ll be the main threat from the South coast club.

Ronald Koeman will hope his side have turned a corner with back-to-back victories and clean sheets. Fraser Forster’s return from a long knee injury has been graciously received by everyone associated with Southampton and he has carried on where he left off. However, they’ve both come in front of their own fans and Koeman will now be hoping that his side can reproduce their form on their travels where they’ve been beaten four times in succession. Defeats at the end of 2015 to Manchester City, Crystal Palace and West Ham were bad enough but they started 2016 with the worst defeat of the bunch, a 1-0 loss to relegation threatened, Norwich City. Victor Wanyama made his return at the weekend and played a key role in the heart of the midfield alongside James Ward-Prowse who scored his 2^nd and 3^rd goals of his career for Southampton after going just under 100 games with just one goal.

Ex-Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin will be looking to do the double over his old teammates as United went to the St.Mary’s back in September and won 3-2. The away side has won in the last three meetings by the odd goal and Southampton can take credit in the fact they’ve taken four points from a possible six in the last two visits to Old Trafford. Manchester United are the lowest goal scorers in the top 6 of the Premier League and they’ll need to sufficiently improve as it is extremely tight with just seven points separating 1^st and 5^th.

Louis Van Gaal was dealt another injury blow despite the triumphant 1-0 victory against Liverpool as Ashley Young valiantly attempted to carry on but his knock prevented him from completing the 1^st half. With Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw also out, youngster Cameron Borthwick-Jackson could be the only alternative with LVG electing against bringing former Old Trafford favourite Patrice Evra back to the club on a loan deal. Graziano Pelle continues to battle his way back to full match fitness but has completed just 10 minutes of competitive football this year.

Manchester United

Stats: W-10 L-5 D-7

Recent Form – DWWDW

Southampton

Stats: W-8 L-8 D-6

Recent Form - LLLWW

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Manchester United (4-2-3-1) – De Gea, Darmian, Blind, Smalling, Borthwick-Jackson, Schneiderlin, Fellaini, Mata, Herrera, Martial, Rooney

Southampton (4-2-3-1) – Forster, Soares, Van Dijk, Fonte, Bertrand, Ward-Prowse, Wanyama, Davis, Mane, Targett, Long

Injury List/Suspended Players

Manchester United – Young (inj), Shaw (inj), Valencia (inj), Carrick (inj), Schweinsteiger (inj), Rojo (inj), Jones (inj)

Southampton – Clasie (inj), Ramirez (inj), Gardos (inj)

League Positions