Five things to watch out for when Manchester United face Southampton, with star man out to haunt visitors

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Manchester United and Southampton are both looking to get back to winning ways in the Premier League.

The aim for both teams at Old Trafford will be to build on their positive FA Cup results last weekend.

Manchester United are sat 14^th in the Premier League table, while Southampton are at the bottom of the table. It will be their first meeting since September when the Reds secured a 3-0 win at St. Mary’s.

Although United’s form has been questionable this season, Ruben Amorim’s side go into the game against Southampton on the back of two strong away performances at Liverpool and Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Southampton eased to a 3-0 home win over Championship side Swansea City in the third round of the FA Cup, with a brace from Tyler Dibling and a goal from Kamaldeen Sulemana.

50th Premier League meeting

United are unbeaten in their last 15 league games against Southampton.

The Reds were 3-0 winners in the reverse fixture earlier this season, with Matthijs de Ligt, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho getting on the scoresheet in a game that saw Southampton reduced to 10 men.

This makes United favourites going into their 50th Premier League meeting with Southampton.

Previous five meetings:

• 14/9/2024: Southampton 0-3 United
• 12/3/2023: United 0-0 Southampton
• 27/8/2022: Southampton 0-1 United
• 12/2/2022: United 1-1 Southampton
• 22/8/2021: Southampton 1-1 United

Addressing Premier League form

It has been over a month since United last won a match in the Premier League.

The last victory came when the Reds beat Man City 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium, thanks to goals from Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo.

The visitors on Thursday night have only secured three points once in the league this term, beating Everton 1-0, and are currently sat at the bottom of the table.

Southampton are winless in their last 17 away games in the league, which is the club’s second-worst run in top-flight history. They were hammered 5-0 at home by Brentford in their last league outing.

Diogo Dalot missing through suspension

Diogo Dalot will miss his first game of the season, when Southampton come to Old Trafford on Thursday night.

The Portugal international was dismissed in United’s win over Arsenal for two bookable offences. He was shown a second yellow card by referee Andrew Madley for diving in recklessly on Mikel Merino.

The one-game suspension applies to all domestic games so he will miss the game against Southampton rather than United’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Leicester City next month.

Dalot has been a mainstay in the team this season, using his versatility to fill the void at left wing-back. The only line-up he was omitted from this season was the Europa League tie against Bodo/Glimt, although he came on as a substitute to replace Tyrell Malacia in the 3-2 victory.

The absence of Dalot means Garnacho and Noussair Mazraoui are in line to match the right-back’s record of 31 appearances this season.

Clean sheet on the agenda

Like United but worse, Southampton have struggled in front of goal this season.

The Saints have failed to score in five of their last six Premier League matches.

This will be music to Andre Onana’s ears as the goalkeeper looks to add to his tally of clean sheets.

The Cameroon international is expected to replace Altay Bayindir in the line-up.

Bruno Fernandes ready to haunt Southampton

Manchester United captain Fernandes is starting to hit a good run of form.

The Portuguese Magnifico opened the scoring for United against Arsenal with a sublime strike and he will be looking to add to his account on Thursday night.

Although Fernandes has won just 50% of his fixtures against Southampton, he has seven goal contributions having played against them on eight occasions.