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Manchester United in Toughest Test Yet

Manchester United in Toughest Test Yet
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Last season was tough for Manchester United in the Premier League.  Many onlookers were tipping them to win the title at the start of the season but what developed was a difficult campaign.

Jose Mourinho was under pressure to at least deliver Champions League football and that was looking increasingly unlikely in the Premier League.  Fortunately, the Red Devils had the Europa League to fall back on and won that competition, securing Champions League football with it.

Leicester City were always going to find life tough as defending champions and seemed set for a relegation battle.  However, following the dismissal of Claudio Ranieri, the Foxes pulled clear to finish midtable under current boss, Craig Shakespeare.

While Manchester United struggled for much of last season, they have started in superb fashion this season, winning their two league games 4-0.

The first of which came on the opening weekend at Old Trafford, where two goals from Romelu Lukaku and one apiece from French duo Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial saw off West Ham United.

This was followed up with another good display at Swansea City last week.  Lukaku, Pogba and Martial were once again on the score sheet and were joined by Eric Bailly, who opened the scoring.  Jose Mourinho could not have asked for a better start.

Manchester United have kept their defensive solidness while adding the goals to their game which were missing last season.

Leicester City started the season with a difficult trip to Arsenal. The Foxes gave a very good account of themselves and can count themselves unlucky not to take something from the match, eventually going down 4-3.

Leicester then grabbed their first win of the season at home against Brighton and Hove Albion.  An early goal from Shinji Okazaki was followed by a first competitive Leicester goal for Harry Maguire.  A much-changed team then went on to defeat Sheffield United 4-1 away from home in the Carabao Cup.

Trends show Manchester United are unbeaten in their last eighteen home Premier League games and they will want to continue that run with a win in this match.  The Red Devils have lost only two of their last thirty-one games in the league and are undefeated against Leicester in their last six home league games.

Leicester’s away form is not good and trends show they have won just two of their last twenty away Premier League games, including defeats in seven of their last ten.

Manchester United are set to remain unchanged from their first two games this season.  Anthony Martial is pushing for a place in the starting XI with his performances off the bench but Marcus Rashford should start.

Leicester have doubts over Harry Maguire, Wes Morgan, and Kelechi Iheanacho but are hoping all three will be fit to play.  Vicente Iborra and Danny Drinkwater are unlikely to play any part.

It’s only early days but Manchester United have looked very strong and should be good enough to pick up maximum points from this game.  However, Leicester have looked good going forward and may be the first team to score past the hosts this season.

Premier League
OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
1
Arsenal 77 34 24 5 5 56
2
Liverpool 74 34 22 8 4 41
3
Manchester City 73 32 22 7 3 44
4
Aston Villa 66 34 20 6 8 21
5
Tottenham 60 32 18 6 8 16
6
Manchester United 53 33 16 5 12 1
7
Newcastle United 50 33 15 5 13 15
8
West Ham 48 34 13 9 12 -9
9
Chelsea 47 32 13 8 11 4
10
Bournemouth 45 34 12 9 13 -11
11
Brighton 44 32 11 11 10 2
12
Wolverhampton 43 34 12 7 15 -8
13
Fulham 42 34 12 6 16 -4
14
Crystal Palace 39 34 10 9 15 -12
15
Brentford 35 34 9 8 17 -7
16
Everton 33 34 11 8 15 -12
17
Nottingham Forest 26 34 7 9 18 -18
18
Luton Town 25 34 6 7 21 -28
19
Burnley 23 34 5 8 21 -32
20
Sheffield United 16 34 3 7 24 -59

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