Manchester United -v- Leicester City
Premier League
Old Trafford, Manchester
Saturday 14 September 2019, KO 15:00 BST
Referee: Martin Atkinson Assistants: Lee Betts; Constantine Hatzidakis Fourth Official: Jarred Gillett
VAR: Stuart Attwell Assistant VAR: Peter Kirkup
Manchester United welcome Leicester City to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon in their fifth Premier League match of the season. After a great start at home resulting in Chelsea being beaten 4-0, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have been poor since, drawing with Wolverhampton Wanderers, losing to Crystal Palace and drawing with Southampton.
Brendan Rodgers’ team will be looking for their first victory over United at Old Trafford in more than 21 years with their last victory at the Theatre of Dreams in January 1998. Leicester have had a good start to the season, currently sitting in third place in the league, with United sitting in eighth after three poor results.
September sees United’s number of matches increase with the UEFA Europa League and the Carabao Cup set to start with United facing FC Astana (19/9) and Rochdale (25/9) respectively this month. In order to get back to winning ways, turning the season around, Solskjaer will need to find the answers to the problem he faces; getting the best out of his team.
Form: Leicester in better form than United with three wins and two draws this season (competitively) so far. United need to return to winning ways.
Manchester United: DLDWWW (* denotes friendly)
Southampton 1-1 D, Crystal Palace 2-1 L, Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 D, Chelsea 4-0 W, AC Milan 2-2 (5-4 on penalties) W*, Kristiansund 1-0 W*
Leicester City: WWWDDW (* denotes friendly)
Bournemouth 3-1 W, Newcastle United 1-1 (4-2) W, Sheffield United 2-1 W, Chelsea 1-1 D, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 D, Atalanta 2-1 W*
Top Scorers: Daniel James aiming to match a record set by his manager 23 years ago with three goals in three appearances at Old Trafford?
Manchester United: Solskjaer’s side has scored seven goals in four competitive matches this season, which is problematic considering they have not won a match since the 4-0 victory over Chelsea on the opening weekend of the Premi
Goals: 3 – Daniel James, 2 – Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford
Assists: 2 – Paul Pogba, 1 – Andreas Pereira, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay
Daniel James has scored three times this season, twice at Old Trafford. If he scores against Leicester on Saturday, he will become the first player since Solskjaer himself to score in his first three appearances at the Theatre of Dreams, a feat the Norwegian achieved 23 years ago.
Leicester City: Rodgers’ side has scored as many goals as United this season but has three more points on the board after winning twice and drawing twice so far this season. They will be a threat to Solskjaer’s side with United still trying to find their form which was masked after Chelsea victory at the start of the season.
Goals: 3 – Jamie Vardy, 1 – Harvey Barnes, James Maddison, Wilfred Ndidi, Youri Tielemans
Assists: 2 – James Maddison, 1 – Ben Chilwell, Caglar Soyuncu, Jamie Vardy, Youri Tielemans
Leicester have some very good players in their squad this season, which could be something that puts them ahead of United, at the present time anyway. This will be a tricky match for United and the fact that Leicester have not won at Old Trafford since 1998 could see another record broken.
Team News: Solskjaer sweating on the return of five injured or ill players ahead of the Leicester match; youth should see more involvement in this team with creativity still a major problem.
Solskjaer will be sweating on the fitness of at least five of his players ahead of this match against Leicester. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard (illness) and Anthony Martial all have a 75% chance of facing Rodgers’ side on Saturday. Luke Shaw has been on the sidelines also but there is a suggestion that he could be fit and ready to play.
Diogo Dalot, Eric Bailly and Tim Fosu-Mensah will be out of action for this match which may see some of the clubs talented youth players drafted into the first team with Mason Greenwood now a regular, at least from the bench, with Angel Gomes and Tahith Chong looking to further their development into the first team.
Rodgers is expected to be without three players; Wes Morgan who has a back injury, Matthew James, and Daniel Amartey who are both long-term absentees from the Leicester squad this season. Leicester will be heading to United full of confidence after their start to the season and Marc Albrighton feels his side could scalp United.
Predicted Starting XI: A formation change with Marcus Rashford starting on the bench, if Anthony Martial is fit to start with the likes of Mason Greenwood and Angel Gomes included from the start?
Solskjaer needs to find a way that his team can succeed. This season, 16 players have been used with some talented youth players not getting a look in. This will need to change or the team will continue to stagnate. Giving Rashford a rest and starting both Gomes and Greenwood could see United change matches, which is what they need to be doing.
Match Prediction: United have history on their side against Leicester but these things are not certain. In order to win, Solskjaer team will need to be much better than their opposition – are they though?
United has played Leicester 128 times with United winning 66 matches, drawing 29 and losing 33 times. Leicester last defeated United on the 21 September 2014 in the Premier League, winning 5-3 at the King Power Stadium. In the last 10 meetings, United are undefeated, winning seven times, drawing three times. This time though it could be a tough match.
Manchester United 1-1 Leicester City
