Confirmed XI: United v Southampton – Ronaldo, Sancho, Fernandes and Pogba start

The Saints will be up for this match - time for United to stand up and be counted...

Manchester United welcome Southampton to Old Trafford on the Premier League on Saturday afternoon. Ralf Rangnick’s need to find some match winning form to get the better of Ralph Hasenhüttl’s in form side after their 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

United are winless in their last two matches, drawing 1-1 with Burnley, which should have been nothing more than a United victory and losing to Middlesbrough 8-7 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup.

Southampton will be seeking to get one over United, especially after the 9-0 hammering they took in this fixture last season, which saw a completely different United team hold them to account. This season though, United are a different team, mostly consisting of the same players.

It could well be that Rangnick changes the pack for this match with Harry Maguire not in the kind of form to keep him in the team with some youth players also needing match time in the first team. United’s attack need to start taking their chances, which will help change things considerably.

Manchester United:

De Gea;

Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Shaw;

Fernandes, McTominay, Pogba;

Rashford, Ronaldo, Sancho

Substitutes:

Henderson; Lindelof, Jones, Telles, Wan-Bissaka; Mata, Lingard, Hannibal; Elanga

Southampton:

Forster;

Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Salisu, Perraud;

S. Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Elyounoussi;

Broja, Adams

Substitutes:

Caballero; Stephens, Livramento, Valery; Djenepo, Smallbone, Diallo, Long, A. Armstrong

United and Southampton have met 45 times in the history of the Premier League. United have won 28 times, drawing ten with the Saints winning seven. United have scored 97 goals, winning four penalties, scoring two. The Saints have scored 51 goals, winning one penalty, not scoring it.

United have kept 12 clean sheets in this fixture with the Saints keeping six. There is a disciplinary history between these teams with United players shown 60 yellow cards and one red card and Southampton players being shown 74 yellow cards and three red card.

Over the years there has been many players who have turned out for both United and the Saints. Luke Shaw is the current player to fit that bill, signing for United in the summer of 2014 just before Louis van Gaal became the manager of the club.

Other players to have played for both clubs are Danny Wallace, Danny Higginbotham, Joe Jordan, Mark Hughes, Morgan Schneiderlin and Andrei Kanchelskis. Whilst there are not many big names, many of these have achieved something in the sport.

Written by John Walker

Avatar photo
About editor 2102 Articles
I support Manchester United, the greatest English football team to have ever existed. Bruno Fernandes is the latest in a long line of players with great ability to play for the club. I idolised Bryan Robson, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Eric Cantona growing up.