Saturday Premier League preview – Manchester United vs Leicester City

September 24, 2016 12:30pm – Old Trafford

Recent Form (League)

Manchester United: LLWWW

Leicester City: WLWDL

After suffering back-to-back Premier League defeats, Manchester United will now look to get their campaign back on track when they welcome defending champions Leicester City to Old Trafford in Saturday’s early kick-off game.

Those two defeats came either side of a negative result away to Feyenoord in the Europa League and sparked a deluge of rumours and speculation that all was not well at the Manchester club. Boss Jose Mourinho has done little to quash those rumours by public berating players and referees. In addition, he refused to speak to the press after his side’s midweek League Cup win over League One’s Northampton Town.

It is maybe no surprise that Mourinho is courting controversy so early into his reign in the northwest of England. But it may be a cause for concern for supporters who were counting on the Special One to lead the Red Devils back to glory. Only time will tell if the Portuguese boss can provide the club with the lift that they need.

United’s mini-slump has also prompted yet another discussion about club Captain Wayne Rooney. And whether his continued inclusion in the starting XI is actually upsetting the balance of the team – a topic that runs parallel to his role in the national team.

Rooney played every minute of the midweek cup game when many suspected he may rested for the game with Leicester City. So it will be interesting see if he starts on Saturday, and if he does, how he performs.

The home side will continue without the services of Luke Shaw, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Phil Jones.

Opponents Leicester City did not fare so well in their midweek League Cup game at the King Power Stadium. The Foxes relinquished a two-goal lead before falling 2-4 to Chelsea after extra-time. However, they did perform much better in Europe, beating Club Brugge 3-0 away from home in their first ever Champions League group stage game.

They followed up their Euro triumph with a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Burnley in which Islam Slimani bagged his first two goals for the club. Claudio Ranieri’s men could overtake Manchester United in the league table with a win on Saturday.

Matthew James, Nampalys Mendy and Jeff Schlupp are all unavailable for this clash,

Prediction

Leicester City have yet to record a point away in the league this term (in two attempts). But they did avoid defeat in 20 of their previous 22 Premier League matches. In addition, they only failed to score in one of their last 21 away matches.

United have a decent strike rate at home, having netted in their last 10 Premier League games at Old Trafford.

You can back the home win and both teams to score at 17/20 with Betfair.