While this wasn’t a ‘must win’ for Manchester United, they certainly had pressure on their shoulders heading into the game against Leicester. They’ve been so hot and cold throughout the early portion of the campaign that they needed to make some kind of a statement. In the end, that statement came in the form of a narrow 1-0 win over the Foxes in what wound up being an intriguing chess match at Old Trafford.
Pushing back
United started really brightly and were able to take an early lead through Marcus Rashford who scored a lovely goal from the penalty spot. Caglar Soyuncu was the man who tripped him in the box to cause the penalty, and given how the rest of the game went from there, a lot of fingers are going to be pointed in his direction in the days and weeks to come.
Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester side were able to grow into proceedings quite nicely after the goal, and you could certainly sense that the nervous atmosphere around the ground was growing. They needed a second in order to create a bit of breathing space and calm the nerves, but thankfully for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, they weren’t made to pay for not getting it.
A return to form?
After the full time whistle, the Norwegian seemed happy with the three points and the performance his side provided.
“We hung in there. It was the first time this season where we have had to defend for large periods. We have dominated the other games but today we saw a team that could defend in their own half.
“They are a good side who want to get into the top four. To keep a clean sheet is great but let’s not get too excited because we know we can play better. We defended as a proper team.”
United will now turn their attention towards another home game during the week, this time against Astana in their Europa League opener. Leicester, on the other hand, have another tricky encounter next weekend as they go head to head with top four contenders Tottenham Hotspur at the King Power Stadium.
Match Report
Manchester United: De Gea (7), Young (7.5), Maguire (7.5), Lindelof (7), Wan-Bissaka (7), Matic (6.5), McTominay (7.5), James (6), Mata (6.5), Pereira (7), Rashford (8), Tuanzebe (6), Chong (6), Fred (6.5)
Leicester: Schmeichel (7), Pereira (6.5), Evans (6.5), Soyuncu (6), Chilwell (6.5), Ndidi (7), Gray (6.5), Tielemans (6.5), Choudhury (6.5), Maddison (7), Vardy (6), Barnes (6.5), Perez (6.5)
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Goals: Rashford
Yellow Cards: James, Chilwell, Maddison
Red Cards: N/A
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