United's grey days at Dell `are over'

Manchester United return to Southampton tonight (Sky Sports 1, 8.0) where lightning has struck twice in the past two seasons.

Southampton caused a few raised eyebrows when they beat title-chasing United 3-1 at The Dell in April 1996 and manager Alex Ferguson caused a few more when he blamed the defeat on their grey away strip.

United fared even worse last season when Southampton thrashed them 6-3, in a match where Roy Keane was sent off, during a run of four consecutive reverses for the champions.

Ferguson feels they were just two freak results.

"Hopefully there were just one-offs," he said. "Our record has always been good at Southampton. The last two years we have lost there, but prior to that it was very good."

At the start of the season, Southampton looked certainties for the drop, but the additions of Kevin Richardson, Carlton Palmer and David Hirst have helped them climb away from the relegation dogfight below.

Nicky Butt will return to the United midfield after sitting out last weekend's victory over Tottenham, while Phil Neville is back from suspension to give Ferguson an enviable selection poser - Denis Irwin has taken over Neville's position at full back in his absence.