Southampton boss admits it was a difficult decision leaving Aribo out of starting XI in loss to Man Utd 

Southampton manager Russell Martin has admitted that it was a difficult decision leaving Joe Aribo and two other players out of the starting lineup in his side's 3-0 defeat to Manchester United in a Premier League encounter at the St Mary's Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

For the first time this season, the Nigeria international was not named in the starting lineup for a Premier League game.

Martin made four changes to the team that lost to Brentford before the international break, with Adam Armstrong, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Joe Aribo dropping to the bench, while Will Smallbone was unavailable for selection due to a hamstring injury he suffered on international duty with the Republic of Ireland. 

One of the changes saw French-Nigerian midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu earn his first start for Southampton following his summer move from Chelsea.

On the changes he made, Martin told TNT Sports via BBC just before kickoff: "It hasn't been easy. I have taken out four guys who I love and they played a big part in us getting here last season.

"To take them out is tough, but we have signed the other players for a reason. Tyler [Dibling] deserves to start. If he was a bit older he would have played already. He is going to be an incredible player.

"Mateus [Fernandes] we signed from Portugal, he is an incredible talent.

"Lesley, [Ugochukwu] we have changed the shape for him and Flynn [Downes] - it suits us nicely."

With Aribo watching on from the sidelines, Southampton suffered their fourth consecutive loss in the Premier League. 

After Andre Onana saved Cameron Archer's poor penalty for Southampton, Matthijs de Ligt and Marcus Rashford both scored in the last fifteen minutes of the first half, before Alejandro Garnacho wrapped up the scoring in stoppage time.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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