Leicester City -v- Manchester United
Premier League
King Power Stadium, Leicester
Thursday 1 September 2022, KO 20:00 BST
Manchester United will travel to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester City in the Premier League on Thursday evening. Erik Ten Hag’s side have won their last two matches in the league, beating Liverpool 2-1 and Southampton 1-0 after a poor start to the season.
Brendan Rodger’s Leicester side seem to have lost some character this season, still winless in the Premier League and sitting where United once were at the bottom of the Premier League table. It could turn into a bad season for Leicester if they don’t start getting results.
Ahead of the Tuesday and Wednesday evening fixtures, United sit eighth in the Premier League table which is a big difference to where they were after the defeats to Brighton and Hove Albion and Brentford which saw United start their worst season since the 1992/93 Premier League season.
Manchester United – Form, Goals Scored & Assists
Southampton 1-0 W, Liverpool 2-1 W, Brentford 4-0 L, Brighton and Hove Albion 2-1 L, Rayo Vallecano 1-1 D, Atlético Madrid 1-0 L
Goals: 1 – Bruno Fernandes, Own Goal, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho
Assists: 1 – Diogo Dalot, Anthony Elanga, Anthony Martial
Leicester City – Form, Goals Scored & Assists
Chelsea 2-1 L, Stockport County 0-0 (3-1 penalties) W, Southampton 2-1 L, Arsenal 4-2 L, Brentford 2-2 D, Sevilla 1-0 W
Goals: 2 – James Maddison, 1 – Harvey Barnes, Timothy Castagne, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Own Goal
Assists: 2 – Jamie Vardy, 1 – Kelechi Iheanacho, James Maddison
Previous Meetings & Connections
United and Leicester have met 32 times in the Premier League with United winning 19 matches, drawing nine matches and Leicester winning four. United have scored 66 goals, winning four penalties, scoring three. Leicester have scored 31 goals, winning two penalties, scoring both.
United have kept 14 clean sheets with Leicester keeping two. Discipline has been an issue in this fixture with United players shown 43 yellow cards and one red card and Leicester players shown 37 yellow cards and three red cards. Can United make it three wins in three?
John Curtis, Mark Robins, Danny Drinkwater, Matty James, Ron-Robert Zieler, Colin Gibson, Robbie Savage, Keith Gillespie, Ritchie De Laet, Tom Cleverley, Jonny Evans, Tom Lawrence, Michael Keane, Jesse Lingard, Nick Powell, Danny Simpson and Harry Maguire have played for both clubs.
Team News
Phil Jones, Axel Tuanzebe, Brandon Williams, Victor Lindelof and Facundo Pellistri have been ruled out of the clash with Leicester City on Thursday evening. Anthony Martial could also miss the match after missing the victory over Southampton at the weekend but he will be assessed.
Casemiro could make his full debut for United against Brendan Rodger’s side, which would be a good thing to see at this time. Antony looks more realistic to make his debut against Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday with his transfer not yet complete and still waiting on work permit clearance.
Ricardo Pereira and Ryan Bertrand have both been ruled out of the visit of United on Thursday with James Maddison being subject to a late fitness test, which could also rule him out of the match. This could be a massive blow for the team at the bottom of the Premier League table.
Predicted Manchester United Starting XI – 4-3-3
De Gea;
Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Malacia;
Eriksen, Casemiro, Fernandes;
Sancho, Ronaldo, Rashford
Predicted Leicester City Starting XI – 4-1-4-1
Ward;
Castagne, Amartey, Evans, Justin;
Soumare;
Perez, Tielemans, Maddison, Barnes;
Vardy
Match Prediction
United will need to get a good result against Leicester, taking all three points which will set them up well for the clash with Arsenal at the Theatre of Dreams on Sunday. That will be the biggest match of the season so far for United and the first big team to play Arsenal this season.
Leicester are in a low position in the league so far this season, sitting rock bottom, which could change with nine matches being played on Tuesday and Wednesday before this match even takes place on Thursday. It is not a good position for Leicester to be in – they need real character.
Of course, United are not even the finished article under Ten Hag so far this season but the change from the first two matches into the last two has been noticeable and will be something that this team needs to continue in order to get these three points in the bag.
Leicester City 0-2 Manchester United
Written by John Walker
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