5 times Manchester United have come unstuck at Southampton
Red Devils have often struggled at Saints
Manchester United are in rampant form in the Premier League, and the Red Devils will be looking for three more points this weekend.
Jose Mourinho’s men head to Southampton, but the Coral News Team love their history, and things haven’t always gone so well for the Reds on the South Coast.
Actually, the Saints have proven a regular thorn in United’s side. Here are five times they caused the Red Devils to slip up…
April 1996 – Southampton 3-1 Man United
With 10 wins and two draws from their previous 12 games, United were flying when they headed south 21 years ago.
They had eroded Newcastle United’s title lead, but they let the Magpies back in as the Saints caused a surprise in a match made famous for the ‘Grey shirts’.
Ken Monkou, Neil Shipperley and Matt Le Tissier fired the hosts into a 3-0 half-time lead and Alex Ferguson blamed United’s dismal showing on their away strip.
He forced his side to change into white and blue at the interval and it worked – sort of. They did win the second half 1-0 thanks to a Ryan Giggs effort, but it wasn’t enough.
It was only a temporary derailment however – the Red Devils won their final three games to seal the title.
October 1996 – Southampton 6-3 Man United
United really hated going to Southampton in 1996, especially after this memorable defeat.
Just six days after being swept aside 5-0 by Newcastle, United’s defence again collapsed.
Eyal Berkovic put the hosts ahead inside six minutes, before United’s cause suffered a major blow when Roy Keane was sent off 15 minutes later.
That opened the floodgates. Southampton were 3-1 up by the break, and another three goals in the final seven minutes of the game (featuring an Egil Ostenstad hat-trick) completed a famous victory at the Dell.
January 1998 – Southampton 1-0 Man United
Amazingly, this game marked the third consecutive occasion that United lost at Southampton.
At the time the Red Devils were strolling towards another Premier League title – they’d lost just three times all season.
But Kevin Davies’ early effort proved enough for yet another Saints win, a result which would be crucial as Arsenal pipped United to the 1997-1998 title by a single point.
May 2001 – Southampton 2-1 Man United
This was Southampton’s farewell season at their beloved Dell, and their final two games saw them host Man United and Arsenal.
In truth, United had wrapped up the 2000-2001 campaign long before they travelled south.
Luke Chadwick, Michael Stewart, Ronnie Wallwork and Quinton Fortune were in the starting XI, but Southampton showed no mercy.
A Wes Brown own goal and a Marian Pahars effort had Saints 2-0 up inside 15 minutes. Ryan Giggs responded in the second period but Southampton won yet again.
August 2003 – Southampton 1-0 Man United
Now don’t be thinking that United’s Southampton woes were merely consigned to the Dell.
United began the 2003-2004 campaign with three wins from three, but they came unstuck once more in Hampshire, this time at St Mary’s.
It wasn’t a great game by any means, but all the home fans cared about was James Beattie’s 88th-minute winner to claim yet another scalp on the South Coast.
Old Trafford and this weekend
Southampton have gone well at Old Trafford in the past too. They won in both the 2014-15 and 2015-16 campaigns, while they also bagged a 3-3 draw in 1999 – the Massimo Taibi game.
United go into this weekend as 4/11 favourites, but as Coral have shown, a Southampton win at 4/1 has come good plenty of times before.
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