Premier League Predictions: Chris Sutton v Bank of Dave 2 stars Rory Kinnear and Dave Fishwick

On By Littum

Old Trafford, 20:00 GMT

I have great admiration for Manchester United’s performance in their FA Cup win against Arsenal, especially for knocking it out with 10 men for an hour after Diogo Dalot was sent off.

But the next three games, at home to Southampton, Brighton and then Rangers, are a very different test for them compared to their trips to the Emirates Stadium and Anfield in the past week.

I don’t want to devalue what United did against Arsenal or Liverpool, but those were games where the expectation was not on them to get results.

We know United are good on the counter-attack away from home, but against Saints at Old Trafford, they will have to take the game to the opposition.

That is exactly where they have struggled recently and as I said on 606 on Sunday night, it would be like Manchester United to be flat, find things difficult and drop more points.

Southampton under Ivan Jurica are very different to the way they played under former boss Russell Martin because they mostly just lump it forward now and they are far more direct.

Saints can go into this game with a bit of confidence after beating Champions League side Swansea in the FA Cup and ending a run of 12 games without a win dating back to the start of November.

I still think United will find a way to win, but I’m not so sure it will be completely routine.

I loved the way they defended against Arsenal and I thought it was quite sharp from Ruben Amorim when he came out afterwards and talked about that desire aspect.

He talked about qualities that you would hope were pretty basic qualities for any team to have – that ability to fight and scrap for a result.

United have shown that they can do that part, now they must also show their quality.

Sutton’s prediction: 2-0

Rory’s prediction: I watched United’s last home game against Newcastle and they were absolutely terrible. I still can’t see them not beating Southampton. 2-0

Dave’s prediction: United have had so many sticks that I think they will get a decent win. 3-1