Manchester United were once again made to pay for letting a lead slip as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton, dropping more points in the race for the Premier League top four.
United took the lead through Jadon Sancho’s first Old Trafford goal but, for the third game in a row, were pegged back as Che Adams earned Saints a deserved point to back up their midweek win at Tottenham.
Ralf Rangnick recalled Cristiano Ronaldo to the starting lineup in the only change to the side that had started the midweek draw against Burnley, while Southampton, unsurprisingly, stuck with the same XI that beat Spurs.
Ronaldo went close to opening the scoring when he was played in by Sancho and rounded the ‘keeper, only to see his effort cleared on the line by Romain Perraud, while Adams slipped at the crucial moment to fluff a decent chance at the other end.
Eventually, it was Sancho that broke the deadlock as he stroked home from close range at the end of a superb counter-attack, Bruno Fernandes releasing Marcus Rashford to lay on a plate for his England teammate.
Paul Pogba had the ball in the net in first-half stoppage time but the effort was rightly ruled out for offside against Ronaldo in the build-up and after the restart Adams times his run perfectly to slide past David de Gea and in off the far post.
Fraser Forster was called upon to deny Harry Maguire, Ronaldo and Diogo Dalot as United searched for a response, while Stuart Armstrong wasted two good openings as Saints continued to threaten a fragile United backline.
Anthony Elanga and Jesse Lingard were sent on as United’s desperation grew but Forster was Southampton’s hero, denying Harry Maguire with a brilliant save in stoppage time.
