香川真司
After a break for the FA Cup fourth round matches, during which time the squad travelled to Barcelona for training, Southampton travelled to Old Trafford to face league leaders Manchester United on 30 January 2013. The game started positively for the visitors, as Jay Rodriguez scored after just two minutes following a poor pass back by Michael Carrick to goalkeeper David de Gea. Just six minutes later, however, Wayne Rooney equalised, and Shinji Kagawa almost made it two in the tenth minute when he hit the post. In the 27th minute, Rooney scored the second for the home side as he tapped in a header by Patrice Evra from a Robin van Persie free kick awarded for a foul on Phil Jones by Rodriguez. In the second half, Van Persie came close to a headed goal but for an impressive Artur Boruc save, and he also had a goal disallowed for offside. Despite the majority of the possession in the second half, the Saints were unable to make any of their chances count, and suffered their first league defeat since 22 December 2012 to remain 16th in the table.