EPL: Man United vs Leicester Preview

Manchester United will host Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

The Red Devils will try to keep fellow top four chasers Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur within sight by securing all three points, while the visiting Leicester City side will hope to continue their recent run of good results against the Red Devils. 

Leicester have a good record

Leicester have won against Manchester United in all three of their previous meetings across all competitions.

In their historic FA Cup winning campaign, Leicester City knocked out Man United from the quarterfinals with a 3-1 win.

They followed it up with a resounding 4-2 win at the King Power Stadium earlier this season. 

But, Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers might feel that his side’s priorities lie elsewhere.

Leicester’s plan for European football

Unlike the last two seasons, Leicester City are not in strong contention for a European spot finish.

On paper, European qualification through the league is still a possibility, but it appears to be an uphill battle. 

Currently, Leicester are tenth with 36 points and trailing seventh placed West Ham by 12 points.

Even if they win all three matches in hand, Leicester will stay three points short of West Ham.

For Leicester to break into the European qualification zone, they would need other competing teams to drop points. That means, their fate is no longer in their hands. 

They have a far simpler alternative, however. Leicester will play PSV Eindhoven on April 8 in the first leg of the UEFA Conference League quarterfinals.

If Leicester manages to win the competition, they will have a guaranteed spot at next season’s Europa League. 

So, Leicester might choose to prioritise the Eindhoven game and rest some of their key players for the Man United clash. 

Man United desperate for points

Manchester United still have hopes of making it to the top four, but they have an difficult run of fixtures coming up.

They would like to collect the maximum amount of points before playing Arsenal and Liverpool away from home later this month. 

Manchester United’s desperation for top four coupled with Leicester’s terrible away form make the hosts favourites for the match.

Leicester have won only four matches on the road this season, and that record is unlikely to improve at Old Trafford. 

Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo linked up well as Portugal put Turkey and North Macedonia to the sword.

Man United manager Ralf Rangnick would be hoping that the duo recreates that connection to exploit the deficiencies of a Leicester defence that has shipped the highest number of goals among the Premier League top 10, despite playing the least amount of matches. 

Our verdict is a Manchester United win.