Leicester City 0-1 Manchester United
Marcus Rashford scored the only goal of the game as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Red revolution continues with his ninth win as Manchester United boss.
The Red Devils have now won five on the run away from home and sit fifth in the Premier League while the Foxes are down in 11th. After putting in such a great performance to take a point away from Liverpool in midweek, one of the big Premier league 2019 results so far, the hosts gave another North West giant a real game but couldn’t get the goal their play deserved.
Neither team features in the headline Premier League 2019 odds at the moment, but both have a clear aim, United to finish in the top four and Leicester to have a tilt at Europa league football. And after today’s result it’s the visitors who have made more progress.
Highlights of the game
We hoped for a high tempo start to the game and we got it with a good chance at either end in the first five minutes.
Leicester had the first attempt on goal when Wilfred Ndidi met a brilliant corner from James Maddison but he glanced his header just wide with David de Gea rooted to the spot. And then, on five minutes United should have scored when Luke Shaw swung over a deep cross which Marcus Rashford headed wide from just six yards.
But the young England striker made no mistake when he was presented with a clear run on goal; Paul Pogba lobbed a beautiful ball over the top of the Leicester defence and Rashford fired home to put the Red Devils ahead on nine minutes.
Leicester have gone behind before, doing so before beating Manchester City in December, and they almost hit back immediately when Maddison latched onto a Jamie Vardy flick and fired towards goal, but Shaw got in a timely block. And former Red Devil Jonny Evans had a great chance from another corner but his header flew wide.
The Foxes almost threw any chance away just before the break when sloppy play let in Rashford, but this time his shot was safely gathered by Kasper Schmeichel. And then in first half injury time Ricardo Pereira hit a sweet volley but straight at De Gea.
The second period started as the first ended with Leicester on the attack, Harvey Barnes shooting across the face of goal before Maddison fired into the side netting. Then, after United weathered the storm Rashford took a shot from the edge of the penalty area but fired wide.
Then, on the hour, Leicester came so close to equalising when a Maddison free kick bounced high off the Red wall and Vardy hit a first time volley but De Gea gratefully gathered the ball.
And the United keeper made a great save when Rachid Ghezzal fired a wicked free-kick curling towards the top corner but De Gea leapt across to make a spectacular one handed stop. Minutes later Evans had a chance to level when Ghezzal swung another free-kick over but the centre back failed to connect with Harry Maguire’s flick on.
Solskjaer brought Romelu Lukaku on and the big Belgian had a chance to finish the game but he shot straight at Schmeichel when clean through. And the ball swept to the other end carried by Barnes and he centred to Vardy who, once again, shot straight at De Gea. And in an end to end finish United broke with speed and Anthony Martial shot at the Leicester keeper.
Maguire had one more effort for the Foxes but couldn’t hit the target as United held on for Ole’s ninth win in ten games.
Key statistics
Solskjaer’s stated intention has been to play attacking football in the pursuit of silverware and he’s certainly got the United fans smiling again, but they had a lot of defending to do in the second half as Leicester roared back.
It was a big win at SBOBET odds 2.14 and keeps United well in the top four race.
Rashford’s goal was his sixth in eight league games under OGS and he had only scored 20 in the 92 before that.
But Leicester needs to shake off the habit of conceding early goals, this was the 11th time they have conceded in the opening 15 minutes this season. And, despite their best efforts they are now without a win in three.
What’s next?
Next week the Foxes have another difficult test away to Spurs, who went second in the table after a 1-0 home win to Newcastle on Saturday, though Manchester City were still to play Arsenal.
The Red Devils are away to Fulham next week and that won’t be easy against Claudio Ranieri’s relegation strugglers. The Cottagers are in danger of being cut adrift and they’ll be fighting for their lives. They carry a serious attacking threat but leak goals for fun and United’s strikers will be licking their lips.
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