Ahead of this weekend’s action, Sportsmail will be providing you with all you need to know about every fixture, with team news, provisional squads, betting odds and Opta stats. Here is all the information you need for Southampton’s home clash with Manchester United on Sunday.
Southampton vs Manchester United (St Mary’s, Saturday 15:00)
Team news
Southampton
Defender Virgil van Dijk could make his first start in eight months when Southampton host Manchester United in the Premier League.
The Holland international, who had been unavailable after suffering a serious foot injury in January and then handing in a transfer request during the summer, made his first-team return as a substitute against Crystal Palace last weekend,
Defender Matt Targett is a doubt with an ankle problem but Denmark midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who missed the game against Palace due to the birth of his daughter, is back in contention.
Virgil van Dijk is expected to make his first start in eight months for Southampton
Provisional squad: Forster, McCarthy, Stephens, Bertrand, Targett, McQueen, Soares, Pied, Yoshida, Hoedt, Van Dijk, Bednarek, Davis, Hojbjerg, Tadic, Romeu, Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Lemina, Long, Boufal, Austin, Gabbiadini.
Manchester United
Jose Mourinho does not have any fresh injury concerns to deal with as Manchester United travel to Southampton.
Marcos Rojo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (both knee), Paul Pogba (hamstring) and Axel Tuanzebe (back) remain absent for the trip to St Mary’s.
Luke Shaw is hoping to be involved against his former club having returned from injury as a substitute in the Carabao Cup win against Burton. David de Gea, Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly and Nemanja Matic are set to be involved after being rested for Wednesday’s match.
Marcus Rashford will look to pick up where he left off in midweek when he scored a brace
Provisional squad: De Gea, Romero, Pereira, Valencia, Darmian, Lindelof, Bailly, Jones, Smalling, Blind, Shaw, Young, Fellaini, Matic, Herrera, Carrick, McTominay, Mata, Lingard, Mkhitaryan, Lukaku, Rashford, Martial.
Key stats – supplied by Opta
– Southampton have lost 24 Premier League games against Manchester United (W7 D5); four more defeats than they have suffered against any other opponent.
– Manchester United have won 14 of a possible 18 points in their last six Premier League visits to St Mary’s Stadium (W4 D2 L0).
– Southampton have failed to score in eight of their last 10 Premier League matches at St Mary’s Stadium.
– Southampton have lost 10 Premier League games in 2017 so far – if they lose this match, they’ll have already equalled their tally of Premier League losses in 2016 (11) with 15 more games scheduled to play following this fixture this calendar year.
– Manchester United have scored more Premier League goals in the 80th minute or later in games (9) than 17 of the 19 other clubs have scored overall in the competition this season.
Saints overcame Crystal Palace away from home in their match last weekend
– Eight different players have found the net in the Premier League for Manchester United in their opening five games this season; more than any other side. At this stage last season, they only had four different goalscorers.
– Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Romelu Lukaku have combined for three goals in the Premier League this season (providing assists for goals) – no other partnership has been as profitable in 2017-18 so far.
– Romelu Lukaku has scored five goals in his first five Premier League games for Manchester United. The player with the most goals after six PL apps for the Red Devils is Louis Saha (six).
– 12 of Romelu Lukaku’s last 22 Premier League goals have been scored in the 80th minute or later (55%).
– Lukaku has scored more Premier League goals this season (5) than opponents Southampton (4), despite attempting 47 shots fewer (24 v 71).