BEVERLY HILLS, February 02, (THEWILL) – It was Project Total Annihilation on Wednesday in the English Premier League when Manchester United came from their disappointing draw against north London outfit Arsenal to obliterate nine-man Southampton 9-0 at Old Trafford.
In a match that saw two red cards issued against the visitors, in a surreal similarity with what happened in the other Wednesday evening tie between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal at the Molineux, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side went on a record-equalling rampage at home.
By the time Uruguayan veteran Edinson Cavani scored the 4th goal in the 39th minute against the then 10-man So’ton side, the fixture as a match was effectively over. Aaron Wan-Bissaka opened the scoring and Marcus Rashford ended a six-game run without a league goal, before a Jan Bednarek own-goal pointed to a night to forget for the Polish centre back.
The spread of the goal scorers made it a more perfect game for the Red Devils. Added to the above, Scott McTominay, Bruno Fernandes, Daniel James and Anthony Martial got their names on the scoresheet in the second half with such devastating frequency, it felt like every move forward in attack led to another goal.
Obviously the dismissals of Jankewitz and Bednarek helped the Red Devils match their biggest ever Premier League victory in English Premier League history but the beauty with which they executed it was a pleasure to watch for United fans.
Unfortunately, that will not be the case for fans at Saint Mary’s. The weight of the trouncing was embarrassing and the will to forge a response simply was no where to be found. United easily inflicted a second 9-0 loss on coach Ralph Hasenhuttl in his career as boss at Southampton.
Blames can be apportioned to some players for their responsibilities in the drubbing and none is more culpable than Jankewitz in what can only be seen as a forgettable first full Premier League debut. It ended in a hurry, the midfielder given a straight red card for a high challenge on McTominay and sent for an early shower of shame.
The previously excellent Bednarek, who turned Marcus Rashford’s cross into his own net for an own-goal that put United 3-0 up in the 34th minute and whose sending off allowed Bruno Fernandes score United’s seventh from the spot can share another larger portion of the blame too.
Yet, United’s first 9-0 league win since they thrashed Ipswich back in 1995, marked the only time in the post-Alex Ferguson era that they scored at least seven times at home in the top flight and, in the manner in which they did it, Southampton were hopeless in making it difficult to accomplish.
The Old Trafford faithful will have memories of this match for a long time to come given their relative problems at home, where victories have not been easy to come by with six losses in all competitions in 2020/2021 campaign coming at the Theatre of Dreams. This will be immensely satisfying especially with the very high scoreline which helps towards offsetting their goal difference, just in case they may require it.
Their rampant win takes the Red Devils back into second and draws them level on 44 points with City, although the latter has two games in hand. Southampton stay in 12th position.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
