Manchester Utd 6 Soton 1
Manchester United 6 Southampton 1, Old Trafford, English Premier League, December 22, 2001. After trashing Derby County 5-0 in their previous home match, Manchester United went on to destroy Southampton by a 6-1 score at Old Trafford thanks to a hat-trick from Ruud van Nistelrooy and a goal each by Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Roy Keane, and Phil Neville.
Sir Alex Ferguson´s Manchester United had defeated Southampton by 5-0 at Old Trafford courtesy of a hat-trick from Teddy Sheringham and a brace by striking partner Andy Cole in the corresponding Premier League fixture of the 2000-01 season on the 28th of October 2000 and The Saints didn’t fare any better this time around. Ruud van Nistelrooy gave United an early lead within the first minute of the clash with Soton as the former PSV Eindhoven marksman converted fine a pass from midfield playmaker Paul Scholes to make it 1-0 to the home side. The Dutchman then added a second goal with a close range finish in the 34th minutes, and just four minutes before the sound of the half-time whistle Norwegian striker Ole Gunnar Solkskjaer volleyed home to hand Manchester United a 3-0 advantage at the break. And nine minutes following the restart, Van Nistelrooy completed his hat-trick with another trademark close range goal before Marian Pahars scored a consolation for Southampton only one minute later. Roy Keane eventually made the score 5-1 in Manchester United´s favour as the midfielder hammered home on 72 minutes, while versatile defender Phil Neville hit the final goal of the day with a shot from eighteen yards out six minutes afterwards. Manchester United Team: Fabien Barthez, Gary Neville, Laurent Blanc, Mikael Silvestre, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Juan Sebastian Veron, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ruud van Nistelrooy. Substitutes: Ryan Giggs, Ronnie Wallwork, David Beckham, Denis Irwin, Roy Carroll. Southampton Team: Paul Jones, Jason Dodd, Claus Lundekvam, Paul Williams, Wayne Bridge, Chris Marsden, Anders Svensson, Paul Telfer, James Beattie, Marian Pahars, Kevin Davies. Substitutes: Brett Ormerod , Rory Delap, Tahar El Khalej, Dan Petrescu, Neil Moss.
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