At first glance, Manchester United’s welcoming Southampton in on Saturday looks like a very one-sided match in favor of the hosts; at least on paper. However, looking at the recent series tells a very different story. United have won only one of their five Premier League home games against Southampton since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, and the reverse fixture was a very ugly 2-2 draw on the first Saturday of this past December.
Of course, things have changed a lot since that first meeting between these two sides this season. Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United have yet to lose in any of their dozen Premier League contests.
Here’s our best guess as to what starting lineup the Norwegian will put out on the pitch in a bid to get three more points.
The Bank MUFC Starting XI Prediction vs Southampton FC (4-3-3)
Attack: Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford
Midfielders: Paul Pogba, Scott McTominay, Andreas Pereira
Defenders: Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelof, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young
Goalkeeper: David de Gea
Manchester United vs Southampton FC FYIs
Kick-off: Saturday March 2, Old Trafford, 3pm (BST), 9am (CST)
Injury Report for both sides: go to this link
Odds via Odds Checker: United 1/2, Draw 7/2, Southampton 15/2
Google Result Probability: Manchester United win 65%, Draw 21%, Southampton win 14%
Prediction: United 2, Southampton 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.