da bet7： As Christmas comes to a close, the festive period continues, and to round off 2017, two teams who have had an up and down 12 months will meet at Old Trafford hoping to finish the year on a high and kickstart 2018.
da bwin： Manchester United and Southampton met in the League Cup final at the start of this year. Since then, neither club has sailed plainly. United’s two trophies were a start under Jose Mourinho, but in order to win them, they had to sack off the Premier League in a very marked fashion, whilst this season’s title challenge is in tatters as their blue neighbours run away with the trophy.
Southampton, on the other hand, have failed to live up to the billing in many ways. So close to winning at Wembley in February, they finished eighth in the league before sacking Claude Puel who had taken them to what looked like a solid season on paper. And yet, the style of play was often a little stodgy, whilst that eighth spot was taken with only 46 points, such was the gap between the top teams and the rest. Getting to 46 points again this season could also be a big ask, with just 19 points on the board after the halfway stage.
A trip to Old Trafford, then, doesn’t look like the perfect chance to bounce back, but United themselves are on a poor run, winless in their last three. In other words, this might well be a game where one of these sides starts the climb back to form.
Head-to-Head
It’s no surprise who comes out on top when both of these sides have met historically. Despite the poverty of greatness United have suffered in the last few seasons, they are still the Premier League’s most successful side, and by some distance. The Red Devils have won 78% of the time when they’ve played Southampton at Old Trafford.
As a result, United would be overwhelming favourites for this game even if it weren’t for Saints’ dismal form of late – or even United’s for that matter.
Referee Influence – Craig Pawson
Craig Pawson’s stats are some of the more interesting of this season’s Premier League referees. Despite sitting in the mid-to-bottom range of officials this season for giving fouls, suggesting he’s lenient when it comes to tackles, he is firmly ensconced in the top half when it comes to giving out yellow cards and penalties. Pawson doesn’t always blow his whistle, but when he does, it’s serious.
His home win bias of 47% is something approaching what you’d expect from the Premier League, where most games are won by the home team, but what the stats show is that Pawson is a fairly standard referee who doesn’t stand out too much – probably just what you want, really.
Team News
Injuries and suspensions can make or break games, but when it comes to the festive period, team news sometimes goes out the window. Trying to predict lineups at this time of year involves quite a bit of guesswork given the fixture congestion that takes place at this time of year. Manchester United have only one day off between this game and their trip to Everton, whilst Southampton’s home game against Crystal Palace is only two days later – both teams, then, may look to rotate their squads a bit.
That said, we do know some of the absentees, and if Southampton are having to put up with a few frustrating absences, then United are in the middle of something approaching an injury crisis.
Saints will be without top scorer Charlie Austin and first-choice full-back pair Cedric Soares and Ryan Bertrand, whilst United will definitely be missing Eric Bailly. His defensive partners Matteo Darmian and Antonio Valencia are also doubts. Midfielders Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini are also missing, and Anthony Martial could also miss out.
As if that wasn’t enough, though, Jose Mourinho has played Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic for the full 90 minutes in the last two games – both of which went right to the wire – as well as Phil Jones and Ashley Young. You get the feeling that some sort of rotation will be needed if United are to be at the required level to get back to winning ways this weekend and continue a new-found run of form away to Everton on New Year’s Day.
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