Manchester United are visiting Southampton in the second round of the new Premier League campaign, where they will face Raphael Hasenhuttl’s side at the St Mary’s on Sunday. United are coming off of a great start to the season and here is everything you need to know ahead of this game.
Team News
Southampton have had a summer which did not make their fans thrilled about the season ahead. Crucial players like Danny Ings and Jannik Vestergaard have left for Aston Villa and Leicester City respectively and that might hurt them unless they bring in more signings. They did sign Adam Armstrong who scored on his debut and also Romain Perraud arrived, but Southampton have not be a team in the top 10 of the Premier League for those signings to be enough for them. In terms of players who might miss this game, Sam McQueen and William Smallbone are injured and all the other players, including James Ward-Prowse, are ready for this match.
Solskjaer, however, is having more problems with his team. Marcus Rashford is injured after his shoulder surgery, Alex Telles and Dean Henderson are also not playing, while Phil Jones will also probably miss the game. It remains to be seen how ready Edinson Cavani is after coming back to training and it is probably more realistic to see him start on the bench. Jesse Lingard recovered from coronavirus and could be in contention, but also probably just from the bench.
Form Guide
Southampton’s start of the season was not ideal. Although at first it looked like it could be. They were visiting Goodison Park to play against Everton on the opening weekend of the campaign. Southampton started well that game, but ultimately lost 3-1. Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side had the lead after 22 minutes when new signing Adam Armstrong showed why he will be an important player for them, scoring a goal after Che Adams slipped him through. However, everything changed in the second half and Richarlison, Doucoure and Calvert-Lewin all scored to bring three points to Rafael Benitez’s side.
On the other hand, Manchester United had a much better start. Right from the off, the Red Devils took up the top spot in the standings, only thanks to their rampant performance against Leeds. A 5-1 win was enough to bring even more enthusiasm around the team which was expected to start the season in a strong fashion. That is exactly what they did and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could not have been more satisfied with how things went. Now, against Southampton his team will go on a tricky trip, where they knew to lose the points in recent years and caution will be necessary.
Predicted Outcome
Considering Southampton not being the strongest version of themselves in the last couple of seasons and Man United being in a great momentum, we know who the favourites are. Our prediction would be a 2-0 win for Manchester United, especially as this could be the first match in which Jadon Sancho will start for his new club.
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