

Young substitute Facundo Pellistri, who made a big impact on Thursday night against Real Betis, managed to squeeze a great pass to Wan-Bissaka on the right wing. United tried to find the winner in the closing minutes. Meanwhile, from another counter attack, Walker-Peters managed to fire a left-footed effort towards the United goal, which also resulted in the ball hitting the post. The Portuguese midfielder took one touch to get the ball onto his preferred right foot and fired a great strike towards goal, but Bazunu’s slight touch was enough to force the shot onto the post and out for a corner. United looked to have finally broken the deadlock when Shaw managed to get the better of the Southampton defence, and found Bruno Fernandes in a good amount of space. But with Lisandro Martinez bearing down on him, the ex-England winger tried to fire a shot over the Spaniard and De Gea produced another brilliant save to keep the game level. Breaking away from a United corner, Theo Walcott found himself one-on-one with David De Gea. The Saints kept knocking at the door to open the scoring. Reds substitute Scott McTominay tried to steer the ball out past the post, but instead it could have resulted in an own goal had it not been for Aaron Wan-Bissaka clearing off the line.

Kyle Walker-Peters got the better of Marcus Rashford on the right wing, made his way into the area and whipped a cross into the middle. Southampton tried to take advantage of having the extra man and nearly made United pay for it. The ex-Arsenal forward’s thunderous header forced De Gea to make a world-class reflex save to force the ball over the crossbar and keep the deadlock intact. After a number of missed opportunities to take a shot at David De Gea’s goal, United’s clearance fell to left-back Romain Perraud, who fired a cross into the path of Theo Walcott. In response, the Saints came forward to create their best opportunity of the half.

Shrugging off the defender, the in-form forward tried to tuck the ball into the far corner, but his shot was saved by Gavin Bazunu. After playing a quick one-two with Bruno Fernandes, the English international darted into the box. Marcus Rashford featured in the next attack. Moments later, Luke Shaw was able to whip in a wonderful cross into the penalty area, but it went over the head of Wout Weghorst and Antony was unable to get a clean enough connection to have a shot on target. The best of those came when Antony tried to find the run of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, but the right-back’s cross was easily dealt with by the Saints defence. United started off with a series of quick counter attacks.
