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4-2-3-1: Man Utd predicted XI to face Southampton

Manchester United host Southampton at Old Trafford on Saturday looking to close in on the top four with the North London derby taking place at lunchtime.

Arsenal took advantage of our draw with Liverpool last weekend to move a point ahead of us whilst both of us were winners midweek. Tottenham’s defeat at Chelsea has seen us close the gap on Mauricio Pochettino’s side in third place to five points.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has a number of injuries to deal with as we play host to the struggling Saints but here is the team I think the Norwegian will name:

Goalkeeper: David de Gea
David de Gea kept a clean sheet against Liverpool last weekend but did concede a consolation against Crystal Palace during the week. The Spaniard shipped two goals in the opening 20 minutes during our 2-2 draw at St Mary’s at the start of December and will be hoping for a better time this weekend.

Defence: Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw
This seems to be Ole’s preferred back four currently with Chris Smalling immediately establishing himself alongside Victor Lindelof since making his recent return. We’ve conceded just one goal in Smalling’s three Premier League starts under the caretaker boss. Luke Shaw setup the opener midweek as both he and Ashley Young will look to bomb forward from full-back against Southampton’s fragile defence.

Midfield: Scott McTominay, Andreas Pereira; Diogo Dalot, Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford
Injuries to both Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera will see Scott McTominay and Andreas Pereira start alongside each other in a combined effort to protect our defence. This is a game we should dominate the possession though so don’t be surprised to see them both on the ball a lot. In front of them Paul Pogba’s experience and quality needs to be on display to make up for the number of absentees so we don’t slip up at Old Trafford. Diogo Dalot will probably start down the right wing again whilst Marcus Rashford is fit to return down the left.

Striker: Romelu Lukaku
Injuries in midfield mean Romelu Lukaku will get another start up front. The Belgian was among the goalscorers midweek and should see sights on goal in this one.

Here’s our team on paper: