Saints take on Manchester United infront of a watching TV audience on a rare occasion when United are actually looking up at Saints and not the other way round.

There is much at stake tonight as Saints host Manchester United at St Mary's Stadium, we sit in 4th place and United only a single point behind us in fifth, a draw would see us leap back above West Ham in fourth on goal difference whilst a win would not only propel us clear of the Hammers, but leave United trailing four points in our wake.

On paper though its United who are in form, they have won the last four games, a run that has seen them leap from mid table up to the upper echelons of the Premier League, however that run is not built on beating too many teams of note. Stoke at home 2-1 was a struggle last Tuesday, before that Hull were despatched at Old Trafford 3-0 , the 2-1 win at Arsenal cannot be underestimated, but the Gunners are struggling at present and the first win of that run was a narrow 1-0 home win against Crystal Palace.

So although United still had to beat those sides the reality with respect to those teams, is that Stoke, Hull & Palace are games that most teams in the division would look to take three points off at home, just as Saints current run of fixtures against top sides has come at a bad side, in reverse United have had the exact opposite at a good time.

So our job is to end that run and in doing so propel ourselves back up the table and put more ground between us and the chasing pack, I still maintain that if we are to improve on eighth place we finished last term then it is the teams that finished above us we have to stay in front of and that includes United, Liverpool, Everton & Spurs, the latter three have not had great results this weekend a win for us would be a big boost.

But the problem is we have injuries, of course this is going to be a setback, but it is a setback not an unsurmountable crisis, I would contend that even with so many injuries we firstly can still put out a team that is far better than the one that we were fielding two seasons ago that finished 14th and that in many respects it is still better than the one that did so well last season.

We just need to adapt and dig in, personally assuming that Toby Alderweireld is not fit I would like to see this starting XI

Forster
Clyne, Gardos, Fonte, Bertrand
Long, Wanyama Davis Tadic Mane
Pelle

Now that isn't a bad line up and one I feel would do well, the three crucial differences between it and the side that played against Arsenal are.

1. Gardos in before Yoshida, the Japanese player was preferred before the Romanian because of mobility, Arsenal do not rely on height as much as United, against the Gunners we needed mobility, against United not so much.

2. Play Davis as one of the holding players his tenacity will help to diffuse the United midfield

3. Play Tadic in the number 10 spot, this gives us pace out wide with Mane and Long and lets Tadic get in the game more than he has done of late, he needs something to freshen him up, this could be it.

I think this side can take on and beat United, the problem is off the bench.

We still have options on the bench though, Matt Targett can do a job and I would have no hesitation on using him either in left midfield or at left back and push Bertrand on.

Harrison Reed, it is time we found out if he is the next Paul Scholes and what better team to play to find out.

After that it gets a bit thin on the ground but the reality is we can put out a full starting XI and three outfield subs with first team experience plus some promising youngsters, it is not ideal but we can be competitive.

Sometimes adversity is what can bind a team together and enable them to get that extra bit of adrenalin going, therefore we should be looking to use our problems to positive means rather than sitting back and bemoaning our bad luck.

United are not unbeatable, they arrive on the back of a winning run against teams that they should be beating, now they are coming up against a decent team and we are a decent team as last season and this has proved, we have nothing to fear, they have.

It has been well over a decade since we have beaten United, OK for most of that we were in a different division but the run still goes back to 2003 and encompasses some seven Premier League games, it is time we had another victory over the Red Devils and tonight is the night to do it.

Photo: Action Images

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