Jose Mourinho will attempt to lift his first major trophy as Manchester United boss when the Red Devils face Southampton in the final of the 2017 League Cup on Sunday afternoon.
Mourinho won the competition on three separate occasions with Chelsea and his team will enter the showpiece event as the favourites to overcome a Saints outfit competing in just their second ever League Cup final.
Southampton
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Times have certainly changed since Southampton last competed at Wembley, with the Saints winning the Football League Trophy in 2010 after overcoming Carlisle United. This weekend, the south coast side have the chance to win their first major trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 1976.
Bobby Stokes scored the only goal of the clash in London as Southampton, who were serious underdogs, beat Man United 1-0. The Saints are again unfancied this weekend, but they reached the final of this season's competition without conceding a single goal – becoming just the second side in League Cup history to achieve that feat.
Southampton have also been here before. They reached the final of the League Cup in 1979, when they lost 3-2 to Nottingham Forest. Head coach Claude Puel also has experience of major finals, leading AS Monaco to the final of the French League Cup in 2011, where his team lost 2-1 in extra time to Lyon.
In terms of this season's competition, Southampton have had to overcome four fellow Premier League sides to reach the final. Crystal Palace and Sunderland were dispatched in the early rounds, before Puel's side impressively won 2-0 at Arsenal in the quarter-finals to set up a two-legged semi-final with Liverpool.
Liverpool against Man United was the fancied final due to the rivalry surrounding that particular fixture, but Southampton had not read the script and won 1-0 home and away to secure their spot in the final of the EFL Cup.
Losing managers in the shape of Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman has not been easy for Southampton, while they have had to sell a number of key players in recent seasons, which would have seriously harmed the majority of clubs.
The conveyor belt keeps on rolling at St Mary's however, and while it has been a fairly inconsistent Premier League season, the Saints currently sit 11th in the table on 30 points and will enter this match off the back of a 4-0 win at Sunderland last time out.
Eighth, seventh and sixth are how Southampton have finished in each of the last three Premier League seasons. It will be tough to match or better those performances this time around, but lifting a major piece of silverware would propel Puel into the record books at Southampton.
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Manchester United
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Only Brian Clough (4) and Sir Alex Ferguson (4) have won this particular competition on more occasions than Mourinho, who lifted three League Cups during his time at Chelsea. Mourinho has also never lost an English domestic cup final, but that record will be put to the test at Wembley this weekend.
Sunday will actually be Man United's ninth League Cup final appearance. They have won four and lost four of their eight finals, but have been victorious in three of their last four – beating Wigan Athletic in 2006, Tottenham Hotspur in 2009 and Aston Villa in 2010 to land the trophy for a fourth time.
Mourinho's early work at Man United was not without its bumps and bruises, but there is no question that there has been a serious improvement in recent weeks. The Red Devils have the chance to land the League Cup this weekend, but they are also still in the FA Cup and Europa League, while securing a top-four finish in the Premier League is still on the agenda for the 20-time English champions.
Man United are still sixth in the Premier League table, but trail fourth-placed Arsenal by just two points, while they are actually only four points behind second-placed Manchester City, which is an indication of just how fierce the battle for Champions League football promises to be in the final months.
Mourinho will take his Man United side to Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on March 13 looking for revenge on his former club, while they have been drawn with Russian outfit Rostov in the last-16 stage of the Europa League – booking their spot at that stage after recording a 1-0 victory away to Ligue 1 side Saint-Etienne on Thursday night.
Man United have played an awful lot of football in 2017, but results have been very strong. Indeed, they have only suffered one defeat since the start of November and that particular loss was purely academic - Hull City recording a 2-1 win in the second leg of their League Cup semi-final, but losing on aggregate.
The English giants have only conceded one goal in their last six matches, while in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, they have a player that has scored 24 times in all competitions this season. The Swede, meanwhile, has four goals in the four domestic cup finals that he played with Paris Saint-Germain.
Man United, who have won each of their last five games in all competitions, overcame Northampton Town in the fourth round of this season's League Cup, before beating Manchester City and West Ham United to make the semi-finals. As mentioned, they were paired with Hull and a 2-0 home win was enough to advance 3-2 on aggregate despite losing the second leg at the KCOM Stadium.
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Team News
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Southampton have been in Spain for warm-weather training in the build-up to this match, but key centre-back Virgil van Dijk remains on the sidelines with an ankle problem.
New signing Martin Caceres is in line to make his Saints debut at the heart of the defence, although Puel will be wary of selecting a player that has not played a competitive match since rupturing his Achilles tendon in February 2016.
Manolo Gabbiadini has three goals in two appearances for Southampton following his arrival from Napoli, and the 25-year-old is expected to lead the line with support from Nathan Redmond and Dusan Tadic.
As for Man United, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has three League Cup assists to his name this season, is unavailable due to a hamstring problem. Michael Carrick, however, is expected to start after overcoming a slight calf complaint.
David de Gea, Antonio Valencia and Ander Herrera are all expected to return after missing the Europa League clash with Saint-Etienne, while Anthony Martial should get the nod over Marcus Rashford on the left of the attack.
Club captain Wayne Rooney will also be in the squad after confirming that he will stay at Man United until at least the end of the season.
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Forster; Cedric, Stephens, Yoshida, Bertrand; Romeu, Davis; Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Redmond; Gabbiadini
Manchester United possible starting lineup:
De Gea; Valencia, Bailly, Smalling, Blind; Carrick, Pogba, Herrera; Martial, Ibrahimovic, Mata
Head To Head
Sunday will be the 120th time that Southampton and Man United have locked horns in all competitions. Man United lead the head-to-head record with 62 wins to Southampton's 28, while the remaining 29 fixtures have finished level.
This is the second time that these two teams have met in the final of a competition, having locked horns in the 1976 FA Cup final. Southampton, then a second-tier outfit, beat Man United 1-0 courtesy of a Bobby Stokes goal.
In terms of the recent history, Man United recorded a 2-0 victory at Old Trafford when the two teams met in the Premier League earlier this season, but both have won two of the last four fixtures.
That said, between January 2004 and December 2014, Man United went on an 11-game unbeaten run against the Saints and nine of those fixtures brought wins.
We say: Southampton 1-2 Manchester United
Southampton have been a bit of a mixed bag this season, but they have won at Arsenal and Liverpool in this competition and their passing style will suit the sizeable Wembley pitch this weekend. Man United are just flying, however, and we are backing Mourinho to continue his success in this particular competition.
Matt Law
