Jose Mourinho’s men progressed to this stage of the competition by getting the better of Manchester City (1-0), West Ham United (4-1) and Hull City (3-1 on aggregate) in previous rounds, while at the time of writing the Red Devils have only been beaten in one of their last 24 encounters in all competitions. There is a feeling that United are beginning to click under the guidance of former Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid manager Mourinho; despite the fact that the 20-time champions currently find themselves sixth in the Premier League table, they are still in with a chance of winning three trophies this term and have been gradually improving as the campaign has progressed.
Southampton have done extremely well to reach the final of the EFL Cup, having emerged victorious from meetings with Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Arsenal and Liverpool on the path to Wembley. The Saints have not been quite as successful in the top flight under the tutelage of Claude Puel this year – the south coast outfit were flying higher in the Premier League under previous bosses Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman – but the opportunity to win a first major trophy since 1976 (when Southampton beat United 1-0 in the final of the FA Cup) means 2016/17 could still be the club’s most successful campaign in years.
Mourinho will be unable to call upon the services of Phil Jones, who is still suffering with a foot injury, while Wayne Rooney also looks set to miss out with a muscular issue. The United coach does not have too many injury concerns ahead of his side’s trip to north London, though, which means we should see a familiar starting XI lining up in red on Sunday: Henrikh Mkhitaryan will continue at No.10, Paul Pogba will resume his deeper role and Zlatan Ibrahimovic will lead the line up front.
Southampton will have to make do without Charlie Austin, Virgin van Dijk, Alex McCarthy, Joel Pied and Matt Targett, but Sofiane Boufal could return following a spell on the sidelines. Puel employed a 4-2-3-1 setup in the recent 4-0 defeat of Sunderland and will probably stick with the same shape here, with Dusan Tadic arguably Southampton’s key man in an attacking midfield role behind striker Manolo Gabbiadini. In defence, newcomer Martin Caceres could be thrown in at the deep end for his debut.
Neutrals will be hoping for a free-flowing, open and entertaining encounter at the home of English football, but the high stakes means that a tight affair is much more likely. On balance, it is probably worth backing United to come out on top: Mourinho has a higher quality of disposal than his opposite number Puel, and the Red Devils’ superior attacking firepower should ultimately make the difference on Sunday afternoon. A United victory in a match featuring fewer than 2.5 goals could be the way to go from a betting perspective.
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