We're back at St Mary's in the Premier League on Saturday as we take on Man United in the early kick-off! Check out our Match Pack in association with eToro for all the information you need...
THE MATCH
Southampton vs Manchester United
Premier League
St Mary’s
Saturday 31st August, 12:30pm BST (live on BT Sport)
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
It’s been a productive few days for Ralph Hasenhüttl’s men after backing up Saturday’s Premier League victory over Brighton with Carabao Cup progression, at the expense of Fulham. What awaits next in that competition? Only a meeting with south coast rivals Portsmouth.
Before that, though, Saints may well fancy their chances of recording a first home win over Manchester United since 2003, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side unable to record an away victory since Paris Saint-Germain last season.
United have notched up just three wins in their last 15 games, in fact, but will be eager to bounce back from last weekend’s shock defeat to Crystal Palace. Saints, comparatively, enter the tie off the back of consecutive victories on the road.
The only disappointment from those trips is that tomorrow’s hosts have suffered injuries to key forward players - notably Nathan Redmond and Moussa Djenepo.
Nevertheless strike force Danny Ings and Ché Adams lie in wait - with the latter eagerly anticipating his first Premier League goal for Southampton since joining from Birmingham City in the summer. Sofiane Boufal may also be in contention after creating the second of Saints' two-goal haul at the AMEX one week ago.
TEAM NEWS
both Redmond and Djenepo will be absent for Saints, and it’s also unlikely that Michael Obafemi will feature after his scoring exploits midweek.
Manchester United are without Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial, who have hamstring and thigh injuries respectively.
Defensive trio Diogo Dalot, Eric Bailly and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are also out.
FORM GUIDE
Southampton: LLWW
Fulham (a) W 1-0 (Obafemi) Carabao Cup
Brighton (a) W 2-0 (Djenepo, Redmond)
Liverpool (h) L 2-1 (Ings)
Burnley (a) L 3-0
Man United: WWDL
Crystal Palace (h) L 2-1
Wolves (a) D 1-1
Chelsea (h) W 4-0
AC Milan (h) W 5-4 after penalties pre-season
VIEW FROM THE DUGOUT
Ralph Hasenhuttl: "We are gaining more confidence after the last two games. We have kept two clean sheets and even if we have a few injuries now, we have good subs who are looking forward to playing.
"It's up to me to find the right balance and I am sure we have a squad who on the pitch can create problems. I think with Manchester United you always have pressure. I expect their best possible team to play against us."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: "Clean sheets are always the foundation to build on and we started really well against Chelsea, but we know the two [goals conceded] against Palace should have been avoided.
"We hope to go down there [to Southampton] and look stronger at the back."
ONES TO WATCH
Ché Adams: The former Birmingham man is still looking to get off the mark for Saints, but has come close in both Premier League ties featured.
He sat out of the midweek trip to Fulham so will be nice and fresh for Saturday’s early kick-off at St Mary’s.
Marcus Rashford: Following Romelu Lukaku’s departure earlier this month, the onus is now on Rashford and Martial to score the bulk of United’s goals this season.
The pair have started brightly, having both scored twice in the Premier League this term - although the Frenchman is likely to miss out tomorrow, so the burden falls solely to 21-year-old Rashford to lead the line.
He’ll be looking for a quick bounce back from last Saturday’s Crystal Palace game, not least because his second-half spot-kick miss cost United a share of the points.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- The side playing at home in this fixture has won just three of the past 15 Premier League encounters (D5, L7).
- Saints have taken the lead but ultimately lost in nine Premier League games against United.
Played: 125
Saints: 28
United: 65
Draws: 32
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
March 2019: Man United 3-2 Southampton (Valery, Ward-Prowse)
Dec 2018: Southampton 2-2 Man United (Armstrong, Cédric)
Dec 2017: Man United 0-0 Southampton
Sept 2017: Southampton 0-1 Man United
May 2017: Southampton 0-0 Man United
DID YOU KNOW?
- Saints have won nine and lost 11 of their 26 Premier League matches under Ralph Hasenhuttl.
- Saints have scored in their last 15 home league matches consecutively, but only managed to keep one clean sheet in that time.
- United have won just one of their last eight league fixtures (D3, L4).
- The Red Devils have kept only one league clean sheet in 14 league matches. They have conceded 22 goals in this run and scored just 19 times (W5, D3, L6).
- United are without a victory in five away league fixtures and have lost three of those matches.
- Daniel James has been fouled a league-high 11 times.
NOT AT THE GAME?
Don’t worry if you can’t make it to St Mary's on Saturday – we’ve got you covered! We’ll bring you all of the action, as well as a host of behind-the-scenes access.
Check out our interactive match centre at southamptonfc.com, with all of the live in-game updates and free audio commentary of the match, and be sure to follow us on social media for further updates and exclusive content:
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