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United emerged from the first international break of 2024-2025 14th in the Premier League table after defeats to Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool, but it got back to winning ways after surviving an early scare on the south coast.

Making his first Premier League start, Tyler Dibling won a penalty for Southampton in the first half, but Andre Onana kept out Cameron Archer's tame kick and the momentum shifted from there.

De Ligt headed in his first United goal just two minutes later, then an excellent Rashford strike, curled into the bottom-right corner from the edge of the box, gave the visitors some breathing room.

Garnacho came off the bench to add to Southampton's woes in the second half, with Jack Stephens's wild lunge on the Argentine resulting in him being shown a straight red card with 11 minutes to play.

Garnacho then got himself on the scoresheet six minutes into stoppage-time, lashing into the roof of the net after Diogo Dalot found him with a cutback from the byline.

United boss Erik ten Hag likened Rashford to a "ketchup bottle" after seeing the forward end his goal drought.

"Once, a striker was talking about a ketchup bottle; once it's going, it’s coming more," the Dutchman said.

"He has already scored so many goals for Manchester United. At his age, the number of goals is amazing, and I'm sure he will score many more goals."

Rashford's dip in form in 2023-2024 was a major contributing factor in United finishing a lowly eighth in the Premier League, the forward netting just seven league goals after plundering 17 the previous campaign.

However, he showed supreme confidence for his 41st-minute strike, which gave United a two-goal cushion at a crucial moment.

That effort ended a run of 12 games for United without a goal for Rashford, who had only previously endured two longer droughts for the club – 17-match runs that ended in January 2017 and August 2022.