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| Image Source: YouTube.com (Adam McKola) |
Manchester United travel down south for the fourth game week of the season to the St. Mary’s Stadium to take on Southampton. This is the first match of the weekend and a likely mood setter for most Manchester United faithful. After the blunderous game last week that saw us lose to Palace at Old Trafford, we need to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get back to winning ways.
Teams: Southampton vs Manchester United
Date: Saturday 31st August 2019
KO Time: 12:30 GMT
Managers: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralph Hassenhuttl
Referee: Mike Dean
Teams News:
Manchester United have two major injury concerns for this game. Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial will both miss the trip to the St. Mary’s after picking up injuries last week. While it has been confirmed that Shaw will be out for about 5 days, the extent of Martial’s injury is still unknown at the moment. This comes as a disappointment because the Frenchman was very good for us in the previous games that he played. To replace them, we might see Ashley Young slot in at left-back because of Dalot’s injury. Upfront, we could see Mason Greenwood start a full match either at centre forward, with Rashford on the left and James on the right or Mason on the right, Rashford as the centre forward and James in his preferred left-wing spot. Apart from them, there are no other fresh injury concerns.
Predicted Team and Score:
The team al but picks itself out. David De Gea should start in goal and as our captain but if Young features, which he will, he’ll have the armband.
De Gea will start behind a similar backline of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, and Ashley Young. At the time of writing, Chris Smalling has joined AS Roma and Matteo Darmian is very close to joining Parma.
In midfield, Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba will start in either a midfield two or a midfield three depending on the third player. I want Mata to play over Lingard as his crisp passes and ability to break defences will be useful against a side like Southampton.
Upfront, as mentioned, we will definitely see a trio of Rashford, James, and Greenwood. Their positioning on the pitch will require some guesswork but all three will certainly play.
Predicted Line-up: David De Gea; Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Ashley Young (C); Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba, Juan Mata; Daniel James, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood
Predicted Score: 3-1 to United.
