Man United vs Southampton
Old Trafford, Manchester
Monday, 13-07-2020 @10pm
Ref: Chris Kavanagh
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hinted he will name an unchanged side for a fifth consecutive Premier League match when Southampton visit Old Trafford. Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe are the only players currently unavailable.
Southampton could be bolstered by the return of Jannik Vestergaard, who has missed the last two games with a muscle injury. Ralph Hasenhuttl has no fresh problems, with everyone who featured in the draw at Everton coming through unscathed, though Moussa Djenepo, Yan Valery and Sofiane Boufal are still sidelined.
Manchester United have won just two of their last six Premier League home games against Southampton (D2 L2), having won 13 of their first 14 against them at Old Trafford (D1). Southampton came from behind to draw 1-1 in the reverse fixture – only in 2013-14 have they avoided defeat in both Premier League meetings with Manchester United (D2). Southampton have lost more matches (26) and conceded more goals (82) versus Manchester United than they have against any other side in Premier League history.
Manchester United have lost just one of their last 15 home league games (W9 D5), winning the last four in a row by an aggregate score of 13-2. Prior to this, they had lost three out of five at Old Trafford (W1 D1). Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 17 matches in all competitions (W13 D4) – they last had a longer such run in March 2013 under Sir Alex Ferguson (18 matches). Manchester United have won 13 penalties in the Premier League this season; no team has ever won more in a single campaign in the competition (also, Leicester in 2015-16 and Crystal Palace in 2004-05). Southampton have won only one of their last 23 away Premier League games against ‘big six’ teams (D5 17), winning 2-0 at Chelsea in December 2019. Either Marcus Rashford or Anthony Martial have scored in 11 of Manchester United’s 17 Premier League home games this season, with the Red Devils winning 10 and drawing one of these games. In their six home games in which neither has scored, Man Utd’s record is W0 D4 L2. Bruno Fernandes has been directly involved in 28 goals in 27 appearances in the Portuguese and English top-flight combined this season (15 goals, 13 assists). His tally of 13 goal involvements in 10 Premier League appearances is the joint-most by a player in their first 10 games in the competition’s history alongside Mick Quinn. Southampton’s Danny Ings has opened the scoring in nine separate Premier League games this season – more than any other player (9). Ings (19) could become only the second Southampton player to reach 20+ goals in a 38-game Premier League season after James Beattie in 2002-03 (23).
Premier League weekend’s results
Saturday, 11-07-2020
-Norwich City 0-4 West Ham United
-Watford 2-1 Newcastle United
-Liverpool 1-1 Burnley
-Sheffield United 3-0 Chelsea
-Brighton 0-5 Man City
Sunday, 12-07-2020
-Wolves 3-0 Everton
-Aston Villa 2-0 Crystal Palace
-Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Arsenal
-Bournemouth 4-1 Leicester City
