Manchester United are looking to take advantage of struggling Southampton and return to winning ways in the Premier League when they visit St Mary's Stadium on Saturday. Last season the Red Devils secured a 1-0 victory at Southampton thanks to a first-half goal from Romelu Lukaku, but the reverse fixture ended goalless. Manchester United have won three of the last six direct matches in all competitions, while the Saints collected just one win. There was only one goal scored in the last three direct matches between these two teams, and five of the last six matches had at most two goals scored in each of them.
Southampton have won just one of their thirteen Premier League matches so far this season, and that was all the way back at the start of September, when they secured a 2-0 victory at Crystal Palace. They did compensate with a good run in the League Cup, knocking out Brighton and Everton, but that came to an end this week as they lost on penalties against Leicester. Last weekend the Saints lost 3-2 at Fulham after having secured a 1-0 lead early on. Sam Gallagher is out injured, while Danny Ings and Shane Long are doubts ahead of Saturday's game.
Manchester United are still navigating somewhere around the middle of the Premier League table, they have already lost four matches this season and have a negative goal difference, but Jose Mourinho is still in charge and hoping to turn things around. Last weekend the Red Devils got held to a goalless draw at home by Crystal Palace, leaving them seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. They did secure their passage to the next Champions League round this week, but they needed a stoppage-time goal from Marouane Fellaini to squeeze past Young Boys. Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba started that match on the bench but they should return to the starting eleven on Saturday.
Probable line-ups:
Southampton: McCarthy - Soares, Yoshida, Hoedt, Bertrand - Hojbjerg, Lemina - Gabbiadini, Armstrong, Redmond - Austin
Man United: De Gea - Young, Jones, Smalling, Shaw - Matic, Pogba - Mata, Lingard, Martial - Lukaku
My prediction: Manchester United to win 1-0, Jose Mourinho's men will find a way to squeeze past the Saints.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Southampton win - 4.00
Draw - 3.75
Man United win - 1.83
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