In the Sir Alex Ferguson era, there were plenty of occasions when you couldn’t wait to watch Match of the Day, when all the results went our way, and to top it off, Manchester United won too.
With David Moyes as manager, it’s hard to recall many, or any, occasions when this was the case. With Louis van Gaal, those incidences have been few and far between.
This weekend could prove to be one of those rare times when United could capitalise on the results of others. Usually, we wouldn’t be pleased with a Chelsea win, but after their atrocious start to the season and Arsenal being level with us on points, the result as Stamford Bridge was a good one. Come the end of the season, who knows which of these London sides will be our bigger rivals for our best possible league position, but for now, it’s Arsenal.
Elsewhere, West Ham somehow managed to come away from the Etihad with three points, despite an onslaught from City in the second half. City are still obviously clear favourites for the title, with them fielding the most expensive starting XI in the history of English football this evening, but it would still be nice to close the gap.
A win on Sunday against Southampton would put United second in the league, two points behind City, which would be a great position at this stage of the season. There haven’t been any real tough teams yet, with games against the likes of Arsenal, City and Chelsea on the horizon, so a good result this weekend would be a huge boost.
Van Gaal has an impressive record in the big games, which us putting in top performances and usually getting good results against the league’s best teams.
Southampton finished seventh last season, 10 points behind United, after losing to us at St Mary’s and then beating us at Old Trafford. Away from home, we were lucky to win, and the same could be said of Southampton when they came to our ground.
“United were the lucky team then but maybe us today,” Ronaldo Koeman after their 1-0 win.
This season, Southampton have had a dreadful start, with their 3-0 home win against Norwich their only victory so far. They drew to Newcastle away, got battered 3-0 by Everton at home, drew 0-0 away to Watford and West Brom. They’re currently 15th in the table and looking to get another win under their belts.
Wayne Rooney is back, hopefully benefiting from a break and ready to come back looking and playing like a striker, instead of whatever he was doing for the opening few games of the season. Stick him behind Anthony Martial? We’ll see.
Van Gaal and United could send out a real message with a win. Let’s hope the manager can instil the same mentality in the players that he does for the big games.
