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Match Preview: Southampton vs Manchester United

Southampton vs Manchester United

Southampton vs Manchester United | Premier League | St Mary’s Stadium | KO: 14:00 GMT | Sky Sports

The matches keep coming thick and fast for Manchester United on the runup to the festive period.

Following their 4-1 win against Istanbul Basaksehir, which saw a particularly impressive opening 45 minutes, United travel to the South East, to face a Southampton side who have begun the season in top form and find themselves 5th in the Premier League.

Should United win on Sunday afternoon, they will move to within one point from The Saints, with a game in hand.

How Do Manchester United Look?

Midfield duo Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba missed the Basaksehir clash in midweek, and are expected to sit out again, having not trained at all, as a result of recent injuries.

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Marcus Rashford, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Victor Lindelöf had caused fans some concern, after they both came off on Tuesday night, but boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is hopeful they will feature in this one. “

Marcus, Victor and Aaron, they came through the session today, so hopefully they should be okay, still not 100 percent” said Solskjaer.

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“Luke [Shaw] has just started his rehab out on the grass, he’s not with the team yet. Jesse’s [Lingard] back from his isolation period so he’s come back with the group and had a couple of days’ training” he added.

Donny Van de Beek starred in the Champions League win in midweek, with many calls for him to start in this one.

A midfield of Fred, Van de Beek and Bruno Fernandes is, although rather attacking, an exciting prospect that, if perfected, will cause trouble for any team in Europe.

Edinson Cavani’s intelligent movement against Istanbul was a joy to behold. He dropped back on a number of occasions, creating gaps in behind the Turkish side’s defence, which the likes of Bruno and Van de Beek were able to take advantage of, finding balls with perfect precision.

If started, Cavani could play a similar role against Southampton, with Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford either side of him, to make runs into the channels that he creates.

Opposition: Southampton

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Southampton are unbeaten in their last five league matches, having faced Everton, Chelsea and Wolves in that time.

They are, however, without star man Danny Ings- He is out with a knee injury. Long-time Saint Nathan Redmond is also expected to miss the clash due to a hamstring issue.

Key Stats

United are unbeaten against Southampton in their last nine fixtures against the side in all competitions, their last loss coming at Old Trafford in January 2016.

Prediction
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Southampton 1-2 Manchester United. Goals from Edinson Cavani and Bruno Fernandes.


Match Preview Writer

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