Manchester United will travel to Hampshire to take on Southampton at the St Mary's Stadium on Sunday.
United will be looking for nothing less than three points from this match against The Saints on Sunday. The Red Devils are coming into this fixture after a 2-1 defeat in the hands of PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League fixture.
United have looked quite unspectacular in this ongoing season of English Premier League. Consistency is something that Louis Van Gaal and his men in red are missing.
Although they outclassed Liverpool in their previous EPL game at the Old Trafford last week, they will have to play a similar game against the Saints to beat them at the latter's backyard.
Southampton, on the other hand, have managed to win just one game in the ogoing EPL season. Their solitary victory came against Norwich City. They drew their last EPL game against West Bromwich Albion. The South Coast club's forwards have found the back of the net only five times this season and that too three out of those five were scored against Norwich City.
Ronald Koeman and his boys made a promising start to the last year's EPL campaign but this year they have been awful. A win against the Red Devils is the only thing that is going to help their cause. But that is not going to be easy. Although they will be playing at the St Mary's Stadium and the crowd will be right behind the home side, Wayne Rooney and company will travel to the South Coast with an aim to snatch those crucial three points and reduce the gap between Manchester City and United.
Wayne Rooney's return will give Van Gaal a major boost ahead of the Sunday's fixture. Luke Shaw's double fractures have put him on the bench for almost six months thereby making a huge dent on the tactics of the Dutch manager. Shaw, who looked absoultely outstanding this season, will be missed for quite some time now. Marcus Rojo will have to fill in Shaw's shoes.
"You have to build up again a combination with the player in front of him. Memphis and Shaw were a very good combination and now you have to build up a new combination. You have to start again and that is difficult. It's also difficult for the player who has to replace him," Van Gaal told MUTV.
The link ups between Anthony Martial and Memphis Depay looked brilliant during the first Champions League game of the season. This pair of Martial and Memphis will be an exciting one to watch, but Rooney's return could mean Martial will not be starting against Southampton on Sunday.
Ander Herrera, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Michael Carrick and Morgan Schneiderlin have done a decent job to control the midfield this season. Herrera has also netted the ball twice this season and is eager to score a few more goals in the upcoming fixtures. Schneiderlin will be returning to face his former club for the first time since the summer exit.
"Last season, I scored eight and I want to keep growing, I want to keep scoring for the team. When you are a midfielder and you score a good number of goals, I think it makes you even better. It's very important for midfielders so I will try to do it. I have to say thank you to Bryan Robson if he thinks I can score 12 to 15 goals, it means he believes in me. I believe also in myself. I think I can achieve that number of goals but it is not so easy.
"I think I have to be close to the situations to score, that is what I have to do. If I score, it's much better and I will be happier but the most important thing is to be ready to score; that is what the manager wants from me. We don't want to give the whole responsibility for scoring goals to Wayne or Martial or Memphis, to the strikers. Everyone has to help," Herrera was quoted as saying by MUTV.
Expected Lineups:
Southampton: Stekelenburg; Soares, Fonte, van Dijk, Targett; Wanyama, Ward-Prowse, S Davis, Mane, Tadic; Pelle.
Manchester United: De Gea; Darmian, Smalling, Rojo, Blind; Carrick, Schneiderlin; Mata, Herrera, Memphis; Rooney.
Where to watch live:
Get the Match Highlights HERE
Southampton vs Manchester United is set for a 4 pm local time (8.30 pm IST, 11 am ET) start. Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD1 will show the match live in India, while the online live streaming option is on Starsports.com and Hotstar.
Viewers in the UK can watch Southampton vs Manchester United live on Sky Sports 1 and HD 1, while the live stream options are on MUTV ONLINE. Australia viewers can watch the EPL game live on Fox Sports 4, while the online live streaming options are on Foxtel Play.
Watch Southampton vs Manchester United live in the US on NBCSN, with the live stream option on NBC Sports Live Extra.
