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Virgil van Dijk could make his first start in eight months when Southampton host Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Netherlands 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.
But Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino is considering thrusting Van Dijk into his starting line-up in an attempt to shackle a Manchester United side that has scored 16 goals in five league games - and one he has described as the “biggest in the world”.
“When we play against the biggest team in the world, it allows us to draw some conclusions about how we are. This is for me the nice challenge and we have to strive for this,” Pellegrino said.
“Playing against Manchester United is one of the most beautiful things. I will live this opportunity, I will live this game, and now we have to try to enjoy this game.”
While Van Dijk could bolster the Saints’ defence, 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.
Jose Mourinho has no fresh injury concerns as his side look to keep pace with rivals Manchester City at the top of the table.
Marcos Rojo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (both knee), Paul Pogba (hamstring) and Axel Tuanzebe (back) remain absent for the trip to St Mary’s but 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 4-1 victory.
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.
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).
Southampton produced a big performance at Crystal Palace. They are a funny team, winning that came quite easily after flopping at home to Watford.
Their problem is obviously the lack of goals and that will be an issue against a quality team like Manchester United.
I’ve not completely bought into the United hype just yet - people are raving about them but I thought Everton were bang unlucky for 20 minutes at the start of the second half at Old Trafford.
In the end United produced a flurry of late goals like they did against Swansea and the score looked much better than the game suggested.
This is a big test for United but I think they pass it.
Manchester United are odds-on at 3/4 with Sky Bet to secure the win, with Southampton considered 19/5 outsiders while the draw is priced at 13/5. Jose Mourinho’s men head to St Mary’s as 5/2 second favourites for the title while the Saints are 5/1 for a top-six finish. Romelu Lukaku is the clear favourite at 3/1 in an otherwise wide-open first goalscorer market, with Manolo Gabbiadini and Charlie Austin (both 13/2) considered the hosts’ main threats ahead of Shane Long (15/2).
Southampton v Man Utd is included in this weekend’s Super 6 line-up, with £250,000 up for grabs again. Enter your predictions for free here.
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