Javier Hernandez Will be Gunning for The Saints

Javier Hernandez will be looking to fill his boots against League One side Southampton in the FA Cup this weekend.

Hernandez has been in and out of the team for most of the season thanks to the superiority of strikers Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov. However, whenever he has been given a chance to play by Sir Alex Ferguson he has grabbed it with both hands without thinking twice.

This is going to be a match where United make a lot of changes and Berbatov could be rested as he’s had a lot of games lately and scored a lot of goals. Hernandez is good enough to come into the side and play a variety of roles in attack without having to adapt the main basics of his game.

Berbatov is the leader of the attack at the moment but this is something Rooney can do, with Hernandez playing just in behind. Rooney is one of the best in the game at creating space for other players and Hernandez’s movement means he is one of the hardest to mark in the game within these pockets of space.

Two major skills that Hernandez has going for him is pace and improvisation. Pace is crucial at any level of football and he has more than enough speed to get in behind the Southampton defence. Improvisation is something he has shown with a couple of goals this season, especially his first effort against Stoke in the 2-1 away win.

The other big assets that are in the Mexican’s favour are the he always plays with a smile on his face and always gives everything he has. This makes him popular with the club, his teammates and, most importantly, the fans. The more noise the United fans make for him, the greater chance there will be of inspired moments where he scores majestic goals.

United will enjoy a lot of possession during the game with Southampton and Hernandez will be successful because he is so good on the ball. If the home side set their stall out to frustrate United then good ball control, a yard of space and a great finish could end up being the difference.