Wednesday Premier League – Southampton vs Manchester United
May 17, 2017 19:45 – St. Mary’s Stadium
Recent Form (League):
Southampton: LDDLW
Manchester United: WDDLL
Southampton welcome Manchester United to the South Coast this Wednesday night having not had much luck at St. Mary’s this term, the Saints currently sat in 17th place in the Premier League home form table. The Red Devils on the other hand have accumulated more points away from home than they have at Old Trafford.
With one side effectively having nothing left to play for and the other focusing their attentions on the Europa League final, it is hard to know what to expect from this encounter. It has been yet another year of consolidation for the Saints, but Head Coach Claude Puel he has at least maintained the status quo, even if his style of play has not won over too many people.
For the visitors, their season now rests on the Europa League final with a place in the top four of the Premier League now unattainable following the defeat to Tottenham last weekend. As a result, UEFA’s second-tier competition remains the only passage into the Champions League for Jose Mourinho’s men.
The Portuguese coach has heavily rotated his team in the two previous games, and his bemoaning of the amount of fixtures his team has to play between the semi-final and the final suggests he will do the exact same thing for this game.
The Saints have not won this fixture since the 2003/04 season when a solitary goal from Neil McCann separated the sides, with the South Coast side losing seven out of the eight fixtures since. History does not favour Puel’s men but considering the circumstances, they do not have much to fear from their opponents in this match.
Neither side has anything riding on this game so a typical end-of-season kick-about can be expected with those United players who are not rested, trying their best not to get injured.
Prediction: A bore draw with Under 2.5 Goals offers the best value in the game.
You can back the Draw/Under2.5 Goals at 27/10 with Betfair.