The FA Cup is a competition close to many United supporters hearts. The club have won the famous old trophy a record eleven times and many hope for a decent cup run this season following a lack of success since 2004.
The Opposition
The Saints have a rich tradition in the FA Cup having won the competition in 1976 overcoming Manchester United at Wembley Stadium. Southampton went into the game as massive underdogs having finished 6th in the old second division but a late goal from Bobby Stokes in front of nearly 100,000 spectators sent the South Coast club into ecstasy.
Re-live the 1976 FA Cup Final highlights here:
United have played their opponents on Saturday twice recently in the FA Cup at St Mary's. Both times have resulted in comfortable away victories by the margin of 0-4 (March 2005) and 0-3 (January 2009).
The Saints go into the game on the back of a record of three wins and two draws from the previous six home matches. Nigel Adkins men sit in 4th place in the League One standings and will be looking to push on in the second half of the season with promotion the clear goal.
The main dangers for United on Saturday will come from Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert who are joint leading scorers on nine goals. The highly rated youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be looking to make a strong impression on our large television audience having been heavily linked with all the major clubs in the country. It is possible that Sir Alex will use the game to speak to the chairman at St Mary's ahead of a swoop in the summer. The boss has been on record as saying that he regrets missing out on the likes of Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott, both of who have progressed through the youth system at Southampton and he will not want to lose out a third time if a genuine interest exists.
In their run to the fourth round, the Saints are yet to concede a goal having dispatched Shrewsbury, Cheltenham and Blackpool on route.
They will clearly pose a significant threat to United if they are allowed to settle.
United
Predicting a Manchester United team sheet is always a bit of a lottery but predicting one for a cup game is nigh on impossible. A few clues have been gleaned from Sir Alex's pre-game press conference. He has stated that he will play a strong team with the exceptions of Van Der Sar, Evra, Ferdinand and Rafael who all missing for various reasons.
With the season heading towards its later stages, I would imagine that tomorrow's game will be one of the last opportunities to give a debut to our new Danish goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard. The race to become Edwin's successor starts now and the new signing will be looking to make an impression for the first team so I would expect that he will get the nod with Kuszczak taking his place on the bench.
With so many absentees from the defence and with others needing some game time, the only major decision seems to be in the centre. John O'Shea and Fabio will surely be given the full back responsibilities and Jonny Evans will form one half of the centre back partnership after returning to the side in the previous round against Liverpool. His partner could well be Chris Smalling who has had a brief run in the team in the absence of Rio Ferdinand. However, the boss may decide that a bit of experience is needed and the mighty Serb Vidic may well be called into action rather than having a breather on the bench.
The make up of the midfield is once again difficult to assess. I would imagine that the old masters Giggs and Scholes will be either rested entirely or benched which leaves the possibility of Nani on the right with a starting place on the left for Gabriel Obertan who will be looking to impress if given a rare glimpse of the spotlight. In the centre, with Carrick doubtful, I will go for Fletcher and Anderson but would not be surprised to see Gibson given some time at some stage.
Up front, I think a well deserved break for Dimitar Berbatov is likely following his exploits recently and with one eye on the key league game on Tuesday. Michael Owen certainly needs some match practice so I think he is a definite starter and I therefore would expect Wayne Rooney to partner him, mainly because a goal would do him the world of good and also that Hernandez and Owen does not sound like a natural partnership.
In all honesty, what has been predicted above could end up wildly inaccurate as a case for inclusion could easily be justified for the likes of Kuszczak, Brown, Neville, Carrick, Gibson, Bebe and Berbatov.
Prediction
I am going to go for a 3-1 victory for United. I would expect Southampton to play an open and attacking game against United and look to exploit the full backs that we select. United will know that an early goal will quieten the crowd and the fervour of their opponents, often a key factor when visiting a lower league ground in the cup. The other deciding factor could be fitness, this was seen the other night when United came on strong in the last twenty minutes against Blackpool who could not keep up with the superior conditioning of the Red Devils. Therefore, if the game is tight heading into the closing stages, do not be surprised to see a late goal from United for this reason. Of course, the team are masters of this anyway but the gap in fitness levels could prove decisive.
My predicted goalscorers for United will be Owen, Nani and Anderson. The first two are self explanatory but we have seen a willingness of the young Brazilian to break forward towards the penalty box in recent times so this guess is not quite as ludicrous as it would have been earlier in the season!
Please leave any predictions and thoughts on the game tomorrow below.
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