Overview
Manchester United will travel to Southampton's St. Mary's Stadium with a must-win mission. Despite spending nearly 200 million pounds in the summer transfer window of 2024, the "Red Devils" still show no signs of improvement.
After a narrow win over Fulham in round 1, Man United lost two consecutive matches against Brighton and Liverpool. Therefore, against a weak opponent like Southampton, Man United needs to win to regain the trust of the fans.
Good news for Erik ten Hag as some key players like Luke Shaw and Mason Mount have returned to training. They can all start if they make good progress. Of course, even with a serious loss of force, the "Red Devils" are still rated much higher than their opponents.
Southampton have yet to establish a system for the new season and this is an opportunity for Ten Hag to deploy his signature high pressing style. There are especially high expectations for new signing Manuel Ugarte after Casemiro's disastrous performance against Liverpool.
Despite having home advantage, Southampton will likely have to choose a defensive counter-attacking style of play. In the first three rounds, the "Red Devils" had many good chances to steal the ball in the opponent's half, but often missed opportunities because the strikers had poor finishing.
Southampton do not have the ability to circulate the ball as well as Liverpool, so escaping the pressing against Man United will not be easy. However, if they make good use of the away team's mistakes, the chance of scoring is still not small.
Since 1995, the two teams have met a total of 46 times. Southampton have won 7 matches (scoring 50 goals, an average of 1.1 goals per match), while Man United have won 28 matches (scoring 99 goals, an average of 2.2 goals per match). The remaining 11 matches between the two teams have ended in draws.
Human resources situation
Rasmus Hojlund picked up a hamstring injury in the pre-season game against Arsenal and is unlikely to return. New signing Leny Yoro will be out until at least early November with a broken metatarsal.
On the other side of the front line, Southampton almost has the strongest squad, except for Bazunu and Stewart.
Expected lineup:
Southampton: Ramsdale, Sugawara, Bednarek, Stephens, Harwood-Bellis, Walker-Peters, Downes, Ugochukwu, Fernandes, Brereton Diaz, Archer.
Man United: Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez, Dalot, Ugarte, Mainoo, Fernandes, Garnacho, Rashford, Zirkzee.
The match between Southampton and Man United takes place at 6:30 p.m. on September 14 (Vietnam time).
