Martial arts boost Man U
United in front following a dreadful back pass by Southampton’s Japanese defender Maya Yoshida.
Mata added United’s third midway through the second half before De Gea denied Jose Fonte and Pelle gave his team late hope by heading in Sadio Mane’s cross.
‘‘I have to make a lot of compliments to my players,’’ United’s manager Louis van Gaal said.
‘‘Anthony Martial is already special because we paid a lot of money for him. A lot of people are thinking he is a great star but he is a boy of 19.’’
Defeat put Southampton fifth from bottom and left manager Ronald Koeman rueing Yoshida’s error.
‘‘We lost by ourselves,’’ he said. ‘‘The first 30 minutes we played perfect.’’
Liverpool’s hopes of joining the title chase look forlorn after promoted Norwich City held them 1-1 at Anfield.
Despite having few chances in a dull first half, the home side went ahead with a goal by Danny Ings, only three minutes after he appeared as a halftime substitute for Christian Benteke.
But Norwich defender Russell Martin scored his third goal of the season to equalise after a mistake by goalkeeper Simon Mignolet at a corner.
Liverpool had started the game in the bottom six and a single point lifted them only two places to 13th, seven points behind the leaders.
‘‘It was important that we got some flow in our game and our intensity in the second half was much better,’’ manager Brendan Rodgers said.
‘‘In terms of numbers it’s not so good but for me it’s all about the performance.’’
In the early match Son Heung-min scored on his home Premier League debut for Tottenham Hotspur, who beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to continue their climb up the table to ninth place.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino was delighted with Son, who joined the London club from Bayer Leverkusen for £22 million ($34.18 million) last month.
‘‘His performance was fantastic and the energy he showed was amazing,’’ the Argentine said.