Forget Armstrong: 24-year-old Southampton teammate can give Matic nightmares if Hughes is brave

Southampton are in desperate need of the three points when they host an off-colour Manchester United at St Mary’s on Saturday evening.

The south coast outfit have won just one of their 13 Premier League matches this season and dropped into the relegation zone last weekend, and the pressure is surely on manager Mark Hughes to get at least a point – if not more – against Jose Mourinho’s men.

Even though the Red Devils drew 0-0 at home to Crystal Palace in their previous top-flight encounter and sneaked a last-gasp 1-0 Champions League victory against Young Boys in midweek, it still won’t be an easy task to take the three points given Saints only have won one home league in the whole of 2018.

On the chalkboard

Whatever Hughes has done in attack this season generally hasn’t worked for Southampton, as they have produced just 10 goals thus far.

Two of those came in the 3-2 defeat against fellow strugglers Fulham at Craven Cottage last weekend, with Stuart Armstrong netting his first two goals for the club as a result.

The Scotland international has been playing in and around the striker in his previous two Premier League appearances, but he may have some competition for that role for the visit of United.

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New role for Nathan Redmond

Despite sticking with a 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1 system in recent weeks, Hughes reverted back to a 3-5-1-1 formation for the Carabao Cup clash against Leicester City on Tuesday, with Redmond in behind Michael Obafemi.

While Saints didn’t score during the 90 minutes, the 24-year-old made a huge impact and was positive and direct throughout, and he is a player that can really put some pressure on the United backline and their defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic, who hasn’t been at his best this term.

Armstrong would then keep his spot alongside Mario Lemina and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in behind Redmond, with one of either Manolo Gabbiadini, Obafemi, Charlie Austin or Danny Ings – if fit – up top ahead of him.

from FootballFanCast.com https://ift.tt/2RnObmQ