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New on Sports Illustrated: Southampton-Manchester United Preview

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is attempting to help Manchester United rediscover their "mojo" and "spark" ahead of hosting Southampton on Tuesday.

United enjoyed a fine 13-match unbeaten run in the Premier League to emerge as title contenders ahead of last week's double-header against Sheffield United and Arsenal.

But Solskjaer's men took just a single point from those two matches, sensationally losing at home to the Blades, the division's basement side.

United are still in the mix in second place, but rivals Manchester City have a three-point advantage with a game in hand still to play.

"There's not been time to do a lot on the training pitch," Solskjaer said. "The boys that played are still on the recovery track from Saturday but they have to prepare for the game tomorrow; it's right in between for them.

"The session was light but they scored some goals. We want to get that mojo back, that spark.

"We have created enough chances to score the goals, now it's about feeling good, taking a deep breath and putting the ball between the posts.

"We want to keep on trying to dominate games. We need a little bit of brightness, a spark in the last third and take our chances."

Midweek opponents Southampton also need improvement in the final third, having failed to score in five of their past seven league games.

But boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said: "It is not so much to worry about if you have the chances and you don't do it.

"Man City won 1-0, Palace won 1-0, Manchester United and Arsenal drew 0-0, so we are not the only team at the moment that has problems scoring.

"But I see us creating a lot of chances and it is only a question of time before we score again so it doesn't worry me at the moment."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Manchester United - Edinson Cavani

Cavani played a pivotal role in the sides' meeting earlier this season, scoring two and assisting the other in a 3-2 United win. Should he net two or more again this week, he would became the first United player to score at least twice in consecutive Premier League appearances against the same opponent since Cristiano Ronaldo versus West Ham in October 2008.

Southampton - James Ward-Prowse

England midfielder Ward-Prowse is well established as a free-kick specialist and scored from a set-piece against United in November. Another direct free-kick goal on Tuesday would make this the Premier League fixture with the most such strikes. Southampton versus United is tied with Liverpool versus United on eight as it stands.

KEY OPTA FACTS

- Manchester United are unbeaten in their past nine Premier League meetings with Southampton (W4 D5), although are looking to complete their first league double over them since their title winning campaign of 2012-13.

- Having lost 13 of their first 14 Premier League away games against United (D1), Southampton have lost just two of their past seven visits to Old Trafford (W2 D3).

- United have come from behind to win 10 different Premier League games against Southampton, including a 3-2 victory in the reverse fixture at St Mary's this season. No side have come from behind to beat another more often in the competition's history (United also 10 vs Newcastle United).

- United have lost four of their 10 Premier League home games so far this season (W4 D2) - already the third-highest number of home defeats the Red Devils have suffered in a single Premier League campaign, after 2001-02 (six) and 2013-14 (seven).

- Southampton have lost their past three Premier League games, more than they had in their previous 15 (W8 D5 L2). They last lost four in a row in the competition in April 2018.

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