Man United vs Southampton Prediction, Lineups and Odds: Back this 4/1 fancy tonight

As kick-off approaches, the Ruben Revolution continues to gain momentum at Old Trafford. After a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Arsenal with 10 men and a resilient performance to secure a point at Anfield, Manchester United are starting to show signs of revival under their new manager.

The Red Devils will now be expected to sweep aside basement club Southampton who have lost 16 of their 20 Premier League games so far this season.

With anticipation building for tonight’s clash, Oli Nixon has analysed the matchup in-depth and provided his top betting tips to help you make the most of the action.

Man Utd are starting to show some of the grit that fans have long felt has been missing and coincidentally, their opponents Southampton are also somewhat lacking in that department.

Ivan Juric is the man tasked with injecting some steel into Saints but their 5-0 home defeat by Brentford last time out will have emphasised the size of the task at hand for the Croatian.

New boss Juric likes a big target man up top and has recalled Paul Onuachu from out in the cold. The Nigerian has a career average of 1.6 fouls per game for club and has been putting himself about in his four Premier League starts this season, averaging 2.8 fouls per 90 which includes at least one foul in every appearance under Juric.

He made three against West Ham and two against Crystal Palace and with him being the main outlet for Southampton, he’s going to have to get physical against a back three of Harry Maguire, Matthijs De Ligt and Lisandro Martinez if he’s going to have any joy.

Harry Maguire doesn’t get fouled very often but the matchup with Onuachu makes him a prime candidate to do so at least once. De Ligt and Martinez lack the height to challenge Southampton’s target man and so Maguire will likely be tasked with challenging him in the air. Onuachu has had 36 aerial duels in his last three starts and so there should be plenty of opportunities for a pull of Maguire’s shirt or a stray arm to catch him off the ball.

With midweek games, teams often rotate players and with this in mind, Paddy Power’s ‘Super Sub’ offer allows our bet to carry on to the replacement for either of our men should they be substituted.

For our second bet, we’re going back to the well that is centre back shots against Southampton. Only Wolves have conceded more set piece goals than Saints 11 this season and whilst Man United have a defensive record that’s nearly as bad, they’re not terrible when attacking them. Trevoh Chalobah’s and Jarrod Bowen have both scored from corners since Juric’s appointment, showing that he hasn’t quite solved the Southampton set piece puzzle.

However, Lisandro Martinez isn’t just a threat from set pieces. Two of his five shots on target this season have come from open play and with his thumping finish opening the scoring in the aforementioned draw at Liverpool, he should be high on confidence.

A hallmark of Ruben Amorim’s Sporting Lisbon side was the overlapping runs from centre backs and Martinez seems to have adopted this role which makes sense with him far more comfortable with the ball at his feet than his centre back partners. Southampton look vulnerable from all areas and ‘The Butcher’ can be the latest defender to profit from this.

Man United vs Southampton Lineups

Diogo Dalot misses out for Man United due to a suspension, while Southampton will hope to have midfielder Flynn Downes back in their starting lineup.

The starting lineups for Man United vs Southampton will be displayed in the graphic below once the team news has been announced.