Southampton Stand Between Mourinho, Fourth EFL Trophy

The first major silverware of the English season will be decided on tomorrow when Manchester United take on Southampton in the EFL Cup final, at the Wembley Stadium and all eyes would be on Jose Mourinho as he targets his fourth EFL Cup win and second sil

Jose Mouriho’s love for the EFL Cup continues and his record is something to be admired; never been defeated in 90 minutes resulting in three tournament wins. This bodes well for Manchester United. Considering Mourinho also opened his United career in a 2-1 Community Shield win against Leicester at Wembley, makes it seem that silverware is on the cards.

Standing between Jose and Cup number four is a resilient Southampton side. Southampton saw off Liverpool with 1-0 victories in both legs of the semi’s. However, Southampton are plagued with injury problems - both Austin and Van Djik will miss out on the big game. As they always do, though they will come together with strong teamwork and desire, mean they are certainly no push overs.

Mourinho surprised a few pundits by playing most of his star players against St Etienne in the Europa League on Wednesday despite the fact United went into that clash with a 3-0 advantage from the first leg. And while the Red Devils punched out a 1-0 win in France the victory came as a cost with Michael Carrick and Henrikh Mkhitaryan hobbling off with calf and hamstring injuries respectively.

United have now lost just one of their last 25 matches in all competitions and such ominous form has made them favourites at Wembley tomorrow.

However it's worth remembering that Saints are here on merit; they beat Arsenal and got past Liverpool over two legs after a titanic tussle in the semifinals.

It may be a first League Cup final since 1979 for the south coast club but they have, rather incredibly, yet to concede a goal in the competition en route to the final.

When the teams met in the league back in August United ran out 2-0 winners at Old Trafford with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring twice. The brilliant Swede has netted a remarkable 74 goals since the start of last season, more than any other player in Europe.

Meanwhile, United’s midfielder, Juan Mata, said victory over Saint-Etienne in the Europa League on Wednesday would boost The Reds in Sunday’s game, admitting he was delighted with the performance, claiming it will stand them in good stead for S EFL Cup final clash with Southampton.

"From the first minute I think we were very professional. We scored one goal which made it easier for us and we are very happy. You know it’s not just about qualifying but winning and going into the EFL Cup final on Sunday with more confidence.

"It was the best way to face the final - qualifying and winning and we have more confidence. We have now three days to rest.

Southampton haven't played in the last week so they may be more fresh but I think we face the final with confidence and will try and win the second trophy of the season," Mata told BT Sport.

Cris Smalling also reckons the adrenaline from success is driving United on and tiredness won't come into it.

He said: "People talk about the number of games we've got and the final coming up. But I think when you're winning games it doesn't matter how many games you've got. We'll be relishing Sunday and I can't wait to get my boots back on."

Smalling reckons United's greater experi- ence of Wembley gives them the advantage over the Saints and the England defender added: "To be able to go back to Wembley so soon, and hopefully pick up our first silverware of the season, then that sets us up for the last big two or three months of the season.

"I think quite a few of us as players have played a number of games there and maybe some of their players haven't. So hopefully we can take that edge on Sunday and it can work in our favour."

While United have been busy making progress to the last 16 of the Europa League and FA Cup quarterfinals, Southampton have been able to focus entirely on Wembley since a 4-0 win over Sunderland in the Premier League on February 11.

Their league form has been patchy, but Puel's team have come alive in the League Cup, beating four top-flight teams.

No wonder keeper Fraser Forster is confident of spoiling United's day.

"If you look at the teams we've beaten on the way to the final, there's no reason why we can't do that when we face United. We've got huge respect for Man United but there's nothing to fear," he said.