Manchester United vs. Southampton Live How to watch Premier League on TV, stream online TV channel:
Manchester United vs. Southampton Live How to watch Premier League on TV, |
How to watch Manchester United vs. Southampton
The Premier League is back in action on Saturday.
Who's Playing
Southampton @ Manchester United
Current Records: Southampton 6-7-10; Manchester United 11-6-6
What to Know
Manchester United managed to walk away from the road leg against Southampton with a draw. They will face off against one another at 7:30 a.m. ET on Saturday at Old Trafford.
On Tuesday, the Red Devils and Burnley ended up with a point apiece after a 1-1 draw.
Speaking of close games: it was all tied up 1-1 at the half for Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, but Southampton stepped up in the second half for a 3-2 victory.
After their draw, Man United will be looking to earn the full three points in this match.
Manchester United vs. Southampton Live
Manchester United won five meetings and tied six meetings in their last 11 contests with Southampton.
After a two month hiatus the Champions League is back on Paramount+ and CBS. To be frank, precious little has changed at the top table of European football but then, whenever does it? Manchester City once more bestride the winter months like a colossus, the sheer weight of talent they have across the squad allowing them to reel off a string of victories as others limp their way through the festive fixture list.
Much as City have seemingly wrapped up their Premier League title, so Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have streaked away from the competition. The former look to be the most likely side to stop Pep Guardiola winning his first European Cup in the decade. The presumptive Bundesliga champions and Liverpool exist in the highest of echelons not least because these two teams know exactly what is required to claim this prize. At both Anfield and the Allianz Arena, there is something of an institutional composure when this time of the season rolls around. These teams know what is required to cross the finishing line in Saint-Petersburg three-plus months from now.
Manchester United vs. Southampton Live
The same cannot be said of City nor Paris Saint-Germain, for whom this particular competition has become an obsession now that they have nuked the competitive landscape of Ligue 1. The same question -- is this team battle hardened enough for the business end of the European calendar -- will hover over their head for however long they are in this competition. Against a Real Madrid team managed by Champions League master Carlo Ancelotti, it is up for debate just how much of PSG we will see in this competition.
At the start of the season, the Parisians sat firmly near the top of our rankings but their squad has rarely, if ever, played football as enticingly in real life as it does in the virtual world. Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe are a "FIFA 22" player's dream. In the Champions League, Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France, Mauricio Pochettino has struggled both to get them all on the pitch at the same time and to balance a side whose attacking trident offer so much with the ball and so little without it. Recent games have offered a glimmer of a suggestion that this team might start moving through the gears -- not least a 5-1 win over Lille -- but there will be many who reserve judgement until PSG show what they can do against the best teams.
Manchester United vs. Southampton Live
The same might be said of Ajax, darlings of the analytics community before the competition started, now perhaps the great hope for anyone who wants to believe an underdog might make a major impact on this tournament. Their numbers are gaudy in the extreme -- 102 goals scored in 31 games that have brought just three defeats -- but many of those have been racked up against Eredivisie opposition. Even in the group stages of the Champions League, it might have been argued that Sporting and Borussia Dortmund were not serious tests for any team that might aspire to go deep in this competition. The jury is still out on them.
For a time Chelsea might have numbered themselves among the real contenders. They could again; at this stage last season no one had them down as winners before they swept the field. For the time being, a repeat triumph for Thomas Tuchel seems unlikely while Romelu Lukaku struggles for form and he has to come up with ways of replicating the success of his 3-4-3 system without its two most crucial components: Wing backs Reece James and Ben Chilwell. If the former returns, N'Golo Kante regains fitness and a consistent front three is stumbled upon this team could repeat last summer's success in Porto.
Serie A may be relatively light on representatives in the last 16 at two, but both of them could represent intriguing dark horses. Inter Milan will need an almighty effort to overcome Liverpool in their first knockout round and the sheer unlikeliness of that sends them tumbling somewhat in our rankings. Still, the past few months have been kind to Simone Inzaghi's side, who enter this competition with a top-five offense and top-10 defense in terms of expected goals (xG) across Europe's top five leagues so far this season. The issue they have is that Jurgen Klopp's side better them in both categories.
At the time the draw was made, many might have had Juventus' tie with Villarreal as the most likely to produce an upset, that is if knocking off the faltering Old Lady of Italian football constituted one. Though they are certainly not yet the force of Massimiliano Allegri's first spell in charge the Bianconeri are undefeated since the end of the Champions League group stage, their squad strengthened by the arrival of Denis Zakaria and Dusan Vlahovic, both of whom have settled swiftly into new surroundings. Suddenly, this team looks altogether more imposing with a solid defense, a midfield that can keep things ticking along and match winners at the top of the pitch. Their opponent, however, has also built a sense of momentum in the last few months, setting the stage for a high quality contest between two teams with a strong sense of identity.
That should make for a fun tie, but nothing like the drama of opponents suffocated by a sense of existential dread, desperate to just not lose, that Manchester United and Atletico Madrid have. The latter are in the midst of an identity crisis, the ferocity of past Diego Simeone's team having somehow slipped away at home and in Europe. The fight seems to have gone out of them.
Identity crisis might be a generous definition of United's difficulties, implying that there was some sort of governing principle about the way they play football that has disappeared. It did, but Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement was a very long time ago now. Ever since, they have been casting around for a big idea; Ralf Rangnick seems to have one and by many accounts that has gone down poorly in the Old Trafford dressing room.
A win might provide a welcome short-term fillip for either of these teams and perhaps convince some supporters that they could make a run at the big prize. They would have to move very fast indeed, however. Atletico, United and so many of the other clubs around them are returning to the European stage well aware of the chasm between them and the three or four teams that are leading the way.
0 Comments