Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says his Manchester United players must prove they have “learned lessons” by going on an extended winning run.
After a poor start to the season, United are looking for a fourth straight win in all competitions and a third in a row in the Premier League.
Solskajer takes his United side, currently ninth, to fifth-placed Southampton on Sunday,
“Of course we want that run to continue, but we know how well Southampton have done recently or lately, or at the last year or so,” said Solskjaer.
“Still, we have a good away record and we are up there since the turn of January, when we had some ins and outs, transfers, I think that was a big turning point for us.
“Since then we've been pushing up the table and, depending on how many games you go back, I think we're getting that consistency.
“We know this is a nice challenge and a good test for the team now, to see if we've really learnt our lessons from the games we've played against them last season.”
United drew home and away with Saints last season and will be without Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay this weekend, with neither having been able to train.
“Scott and Paul didn't train this morning, they weren't on the grass so it looks very unlikely for the weekend,” said Solskjaer.
“Marcus [Rashford], Victor [Lindelof], Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] came through the session, Luke [Shaw] has just started his rehab, so not with the team yet.”
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