With Brendan Rodgers not having spent a penny in this window adding to the sale of Wesley Fofana and the Foxes sitting bottom of the league with only one point, it is not surprising to see that the manager is currently under a bit of pressure. In comparison what a week it’s been for United, from talk of their season being a potential write-off to back-to-back wins over Liverpool and Southampton plus the acquisition of Casemiro and Brazil striker Antony both joining for big money. Things look to be on the up for their manager, Erik ten Hag.
And so back to Leicester who are on a poor run of three straight defeats in the league with the only point registered so far coming in a 2-2 draw against Brentford in the first game of the season. Last week’s disappointing EFL Cup game away at Stockport ended 0-0 with penalties being required to help Leicester scrape through 2-3. Therefore The Foxes will be looking for some inspiration and it could Harvey Barnes who provides it, having made an impressive eight goal contribution (four goals and four assists) in the last six matches.
With United’s dismal start now seemingly a thing of the past, they’ll be looking to take advantage of a Leicester side who are in a tough spot just now and the Reds will be confident of making it three wins on the bounce in the league. Confidence should be high after the recent victories over Liverpool and Southampton, with the game at St Mary’s breaking United’s poor run of seven straight away defeats. Bruno Fernandes has contributed to four goals in his five personal head-to-head (H2H) encounters with Leicester (two goals and two assists) and he comes into this game fresh from scoring the winner at Southampton.
United have a 55%-win rate over the last 20 H2Hs with Leicester and this compares to 20% for the hosts. However Leicester’s win rate over the last five H2Hs is 60% with both teams having scored in all of these matches.
Key stats
* Last 5 H2H encounters both teams have scored
* Leicester have won 3 of the last 5 H2Hs (D2)
* Both teams have scored in 70% of the previous 20 H2H encounters
With Leicester on this current poor run, it is difficult to see anything other than a United victory here. It may also be that David de Gea can also keep a clean sheet and the suggestion is a 0-2 win for Man Utd with Bruno Fernandes and Jadon Sancho both fancied to get on the scoresheet.
