The disjointed ‘Red Devils’ currently occupy sixth spot in the Premier League table, but with Old Trafford lacking its traditional ‘fear factor’ this season, they’re at risk of finishing outside the top-four for only the fifth time in Premier League history.
Manchester United
Manchester United would have welcomed the international break with open arms, having been dumped out of the UEFA Champions League, as well as seeing a mixed bag of results in their three Premier League matches prior. All three of those league games saw the same half-time/full-time play out, indicating United’s success could live or die with getting off to a good start. The disjointed ‘Red Devils’ currently occupy sixth spot in the Premier League table, but with Old Trafford lacking its traditional ‘fear factor’ this season, they’re at risk of finishing outside the top-four for only the fifth time in Premier League history.
This could become a reality if their recent lacklustre attacking displays continue, as Ralf Rangnick’s men have scored more than a single goal in just two of their nine competitive home matches since the turn of the year.
Leicester City
Despite making it to the last eight of the Europa Conference League, Leicester City have had an average season so far, but will be hoping to convert their games in hand into yet another top-ten Premier League finish. After starting 2022 with no wins in five Premier League matches, Leicester have since turned a corner, winning three of their last four Premier League games and opening the scoring in each of those victories. The ‘Foxes have been generally disappointing on their Premier League travels this season and have lost five of their last six top-flight such matches, while also failing to win any Premier League away game as a betting outsider this season.
United have tended to bring the best out of Leicester recently though and they’ve avoided defeat in the last four H2H matches, much to the delight of manager Brendan Rodgers, who had lost ten of his first 12 encounters against United.
United’s top-scorer Cristiano Ronaldo has scored nine of his 12 Premier League goals this season at home, while in-form James Maddison has scored seven of his last ten goals for Leicester after half-time. Prior to this round, no team had scored or conceded more combined goals after the 75th minute than Manchester United (23 – tied with West Ham).