Jose Mourinho is in the midst of his first major slump as Manchester United manager. The Red Devils lost three consecutive games – at home to Man City, and away to Feyenoord in the Europa League and Watford – before laboring to a 3-1 win at Northampton in the EFL Cup.
Mourinho doesn’t seem to have a grasp of his best XI. He still insists on playing Wayne Rooney, who has not been good this season. He also still hasn’t gotten the best out of record signing Paul Pogba, who has been a bit of a defensive liability in midfield.
Nevertheless, this United team is just too talented to continue on such a slump. There’s more than enough attacking quality to overcome a Leicester defense which has missed N’Golo Kante’s presence in midfield. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the team’s leading scorer with five goals, opened his account with the winning goal in United’s 2-1 win over Leicester in the Community Shield earlier this season.
They also have enough size at the back to match up capably with the Foxes’ new target man, Islam Slimani. Leicester isn’t exactly the most intricate team tactically, so you’d fancy Mourinho to finally get his faltering defense straightened out against the Foxes.
Manchester United have a terrific home record against Leicester. They are unbeaten in seven home Premier League games against the Foxes (five wins, two draws), conceding just four goals in that span.
Don’t look now but Leicester are finally starting to get it together after a bit of a rocky start. After getting thrashed 4-1 at Liverpool, the champions reeled off back-to-back 3-0 wins over Club Brugge in the Champions League and against Burnley in the league.
Of course, the quality of competition will take a significant step up, but the Foxes will come into Old Trafford with a lot of confidence and a lot of firepower.
Leicester have much more variety in attack nowadays. Jamie Vardy (three goals in his last four games vs. United) and Ahmed Musa can still provide the penetrating pace, and Riyad Mahrez is still one of the trickiest wingers in the league. But newcomer Islam Slimani provides another dimension with his aerial prowess. He scored twice in his Premier League debut against Burnley.
Even with their slight alteration on offense after Slimani’s addition, Leicester still seem to have a much better grasp of their identity than United at this point. They know what they want to do, and are much more in tune as a unit.
Leicester have a poor record at Old Trafford, but they did earn a 1-1 draw against United last season. With the dysfunction the Red Devils are currently in, they should have a good shot of taking another positive result away from their visit.
Writer’s Prediction
United just don’t inspire a ton of confidence right now, while Leicester are playing well and should put up a fight. This matchup ends in a 1-1 draw (+270).
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