Manchester United will meet Southampton in the EFL Cup final this Sunday at Wembley. United manager Jose Mourinho will try to repeat the 2014/15 season’s EFL Cup success, when the Special One won the competition in charge of Chelsea.

However, Southampton who took out Liverpool in the semi-finals of the competition are more than ready to challenge the Premier League giant and take the trophy for themselves.

Date: 26th of February

Venue: Wembley

Time: 16:30 GMT

Referee: Andre Marriner

Team News

Manchester United

The Portuguese manager perhaps started the tactical preparation for the final right after he posted an encouragement message for Claudio Ranieri who has been sacked by Leicester City.

CHAMPION OF ENGLAND and FIFA MANAGER of THE YEAR⚽️.sacked. Thats the new football claudio.keep smiling AMICO?.nobody can delete the history you wrote.???? A post shared by Jose Mourinho (@josemourinho) on Feb 23, 2017 at 3:18pm PST

The Red Devils will miss few crucial players on Sunday. The pair of midfielders Henrikh Mkhitaryan who has been superb after getting consistent playing time for United and Michael Carrick are set to miss the final after limping out of Europa League last-32 second leg tie with St Etienne. The big game pressure could be put on the experienced captain Wayne Rooney to take responsibility in the midfield.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic who looks to be in perfect form will be the main threat for the opposition, and Southampton especially. The Swede appeared on the scoresheet 13 times in his past 8 games against Claude Puel sides.

Phil Jones is also a doubt for the clash as he was unable to train because of an injury.

Southampton

The Saints have been actively preparing for the final in the warm weather of Spain.

The young sensational centre-back Virgil van Dijk is out injured. Claude Puel needs to make a decision on the matter.The former Juventus and Barcelona defender Martin Caceres who arrived at St. Mary’s Stadium as a free agent on February is an option, but a risky one. The Uruguayan has yet to make an appearance for the English club.

Charlie Austin and Sofiane Bofane are sidelined as well.

Head-To-Head

Man Utd are the deserved favourites of this game. The Red Devils are unbeaten in their last 7 games, scoring 15 goals, and conceding 1.If the 3-time League Cup winner Mourinho manages to solve the crisis in the midfield, then Southampton could be in serious trouble, as the Portuguese manager loves to lift that League Cup trophy. However Southampton’s 4-0 victory over Sunderland could be a major boost ahead of the upcoming final at Wembley.

Possible Starting XIs

Man Utd: De Gea; Valencia, Blind, Mojo, Darmian; Herrera, Pogba; Mata, Rooney, Martial; Ibrahimovic

Southampton: Forster; Soares, Stephens, Yoshida, Bertrand; Davis, Romeo; Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Redmond; Gabbiadini