Written by Rohit Ghosh

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Manchester United vs Southampton: Analyst Preview

Friday's matchup between Manchester United and Southampton just got that much more exciting: Man U's Jose Mourinho announced Thursday that Paul Pogba - who was suspended for their opening matchup due to a previous ban - is ready to go. At the time of publication, there was no news to confirm whether Pogba will start or not.

"Paul has been training for more than a week, around 10, 11 days, adaptation is really easy because he is a boy from here, he knows the club, he knows everybody. There's no need for time to adapt," Mourinho said, via Sky Sports. "He needs time to build his condition and his understanding in the way the team tries to play. Yes, he's ready to play."

In addition to the hopes surrounding the debut of Pogba, we'll also see another new addition Henrikh Mkhitaryan play a bigger role Friday after a mere substitute appearance vs Bornemouth.



What do the simulations say? Man U is heavy favorite in this matchup, winning nearly 60 percent of simulations. There's about a 24 percent chance the match ends in a draw, and just about a 17 percent chance Southampton pulls off the upset.

In the 10,000-plus simulations, Southampton averages 2.1 goals in victories compared to just 0.5 in losses.

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Best Bet: There's about a 53 percent chance the total combined score goes OVER 2.5.

In the past five contests between these two sides, the total combined goal score has reached 3 or higher in just twice, however.

AccuScore has match previews with player scoring probabilities and expert betting advice for every match: Premier League match picks*