When: 5:30PM, Saturday, August 26th, 2017
Where: Old Trafford, Manchester, England
Preview
The Theatre of Dreams plays host to the final Premier League match on Saturday as Manchester United take on Leicester City. It could be a good game this one, as a rampant Manchester United face their toughest task of the season so far against a resurgent Leicester City side who have shown they are no pushovers this season under the stewardship of Craig Shakespeare.
Manchester United
Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United side have been mightily impressive so far this season, winning each of their opening two Premier League fixtures by a score line of 4-0. New signing Romelu Lukaku has already found the net three times in his opening two league games, Paul Pogba seems to finding some form and Nemanja Matic has fitted in seamlessly; all seems to be well at Old Trafford. Leicester City will provide a sterner test of their title credentials than West Ham United and Swansea City, but Mourinho will still be confident heading into this weekends clash. Manchester United are likely to field an unchanged team for the third successive game heading into the international break and Mourinho has no fresh injury concerns.
Leicester City
I’ve been impressed by Leicester City this season; they were extremely unlucky to lose to Arsenal on the opening day after holding a 3-2 lead heading into the final ten minutes. Craig Shakespeare’s side followed that up with a routine 2-0 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion, before sweeping Sheffield United aside in the EFL Cup with an impressive 4-1 win. Despite being linked with a move to Roma all summer, star man Riyad Mahrez has been extremely impressive in the opening two matches and he appears to be finding the sort of form that he showed in Leicester City’s Premier League winning season. Shakespeare will welcome Vicente Iborra, Danny Drinkwater and Kelechi Iheanacho back into his squad after they all recovered from minor injuries.
Talking Points
- Manchester United scored four goals in a game only once last season and that was against Leicester City; can they score four for the third consecutive game this season on Saturday?
- Can Leicester City spring an upset? The Foxes have been good this season and will be confident of causing Manchester United some problems.
- Romelu Lukaku has scored in each of his first three competitive appearances for Manchester United this season and the Belgian will be looking to continue that hot streak against Leicester City here on Saturday.
Prediction
Leicester City have looked good this season, but it’s hard to look past a Manchester United victory in this one. Jose Mourinho’s side have been extremely impressive this season, sweeping all before them and I’m backing them to pick up another win here on Saturday evening.
Betting Tips (Ladbrokes)
As you would expect, Manchester United are big favourites for this one at odds of 3/10, whilst an unlikely victory for Leicester is available at 17/2 and the draw is 17/4. Romelu Lukaku is 11/4 to open the scoring and 16/1 to score at anytime; either of those look like decent bets to me. An interesting bet could be Manchester United to score in the first half, which is available at odds of 1/2 though, and that looks like easy money to me.
Manchester United to score in the First Half – 1/2 (Ladbrokes)