Daniel James scored his third goal of the season but Manchester United had to settle for a point after a 1-1 draw at Southampton. The 21-year-old, who moved to United from Swansea City in the summer, netted in the 10th minute at St Mary’s but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were pegged back in the second half and Jannik Vestergaard headed Saints level before Kevin Danso was sent off.
Southampton, who brought in Sofiane Boufal and Cedric Soares for Yan Valery and the injured Nathan Redmond, made a bright start and Boufal’s early 20-yard effort flew narrowly wide of David De Gea’s goal.
However, United, who handed starts to Ashley Young, Juan Mata and Andreas Pereira in place of Luke Shaw, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial, had chances of their own and Marcus Rashford saw his shot blocked before James opened the scoring.
The Saints defence gave the youngster too much time and space which allowed him to curl a fine shot past Angus Gunn and into the top corner of the net.
United dominated the rest of the first period with Aaron Wan-Bissaka lashing a volley over the bar and Rashford also going close to doubling their lead while Boufal appeared to be the home team’s main threat. However, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side failed to fashion a shot on target in the first 45 minutes.
Southampton were far more positive at the start of the second period and they deservedly equalised 13 minutes after the restart when Vestergaard headed Danso’s cross home after De Gea had initially tipped Danny Ings’ header away.
When United responded, Rashford had another effort blocked after being set up by Paul Pogba before Danso was sent off with 17 minutes left after picking up a second yellow card for hacking Scott McTominay down.
Although Rashford and substitute Lingard went close to scoring, United could not force a winner and they have now triumphed in just one of their first four Premier League games of the campaign.
