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Manchester United kick off the 2018-19 Premier League season by welcoming Leicester City to Old Trafford on Friday. The two sides have played 24 times in the Premier League, with United winning 15 of them and Leicester winning 2.
The two sides have met 126 times in total, and United have won 64 of them, with another 33 losses and 29 draws. Last season United beat Leicester City at home 2-0 via goals from Rashford and Fellaini.
In the return leg, Leicester City went ahead early via a Jamie Vardy goal in the 27th minute, but Juan Mata equalized in the 40th minute. United then took the lead when Mata scored his second in the 60th minute.
Leicester City were in deep trouble when Amartey picked up his second yellow in the 73rd minute and got his marching orders, after this United looked set for a valuable 3 points, only for Maguire to score an injury time equalizer in the 94th minute.
Mourinho has a fabulous unbeaten record in Premier League opening games, he has won 8 and drawn 1 of the 9 games he has been involved in. Leicester City on the other hand have not won any of the last 7 times they have face United.
Leicester had a mixed pre-season, winning 2 of their 5 games, and drawing 3. Coincidentally, United's preseason results are - 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses form 6 games.
Team news
Sergio Romero, Antonio Valencia, Marcos Rojo, Diogo Dalot and Nemanja Matic were already missing through injury, and now Ander Herrera has joined the list, as Mourinho mentioned in his press conference on Thursday.
Eric Bailly is also nursing an injury picked up in the Bayern game, but he should start the game. Lingard, Pogba, Young, and Fellaini might not be ready in time to make the match-day squad. Martial is training overtime to regain his fitness, and might feature in some capacity during the game.
For Leicester City, Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire have less chances of featuring due to their extended involvement in the World Cup. New signing Jonny Evans is nursing an injury, and Gray is also doubtful with a knock.
Predicted teams
Manchester United: De Gea, Darmian, Bailly, Lindelof, Shaw, McTominay, Fred, Pereira, Mata, Rashford, Alexis Sanchez
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Chilwell, Morgan, Benalouane, Ndidi, Iborra, Pereira, Maddison, Albrighton, Iheanacho
With the game right around the corner, we take a look at 5 talking points to look forward to.
#5 Leicester City coping with the exit of Riyad Mahrez
After months of speculation, Mahrez has finally moved on from Leicester City and joined Manchester City over the summer. He will definitely be a big miss this season, but Leicester have gone ahead and signed a replacement - Rachid Ghezzal from Monaco.
Although Leicester have replaced one Algerian with another, there is definitely a huge gap in quality between the two.
Yet it will be unfair to judge Ghezzal without first watching him perform, and as such - the big question to look out for in this match will be whether Leicester will already be looking back at their erstwhile Algerian in tears.
#4 Martial's involvement
The Anthony Martial and Jose Mourinho feud took a new turn over the summer when Martial had to leave United in the middle of the pre-season to return home for the birth of his child. After days of speculation, Martial has returned to training, but was not featured in Mourinho's squad against Bayern.
With any potential transfer moves out of Old Trafford scrapped by the United board, and Rashford handed the coveted number 10 jersey this season, Martial knows that he has to rapidly improve his game and show instant results to win over his manager.
This is why this match comes at an interesting point in time. Does Mourinho still have Martial in his plans for the season? Or has he already been cast out by the Special One? The competition has increased at United as Martial will have to win a few people all over again, and United fans will be hoping that the Frenchman's fightback begins on Friday.
#3 The Pereira and Fred partnership
Andreas Pereira was the standout performer for Manchester United in preseason. He filled up the role of a deep lying playmaker and ticked all the boxes. His free-kick in the loss against Liverpool was a beauty.
However, it did seem like he was fighting a lone battle in games until Fred arrived. United played two games with two deep lying playmakers, the win against Real Madrid and the defeat to Bayern, and both Fred and Pereira combined really well in the middle.
They are both technically gifted, and Fred additionally has the stature to go with the physical aspects of the Premier League, and their wide array of passes and nifty interchanges in the middle should give United fans hope.
The only let down is that although they close down oppositions well, defensive play is not the strong point of either of these Brazilians, and that could be an area Leicester City might look to exploit.
With Herrera injured, Mourinho might bring in McTominay to add steel to the middle. Any move that frees these two ball playing midfielders to churn their magic will be welcome.
#2 United coping with James Maddison
James Maddison was signed from Norwich City in the summer, following a spectacular season in the Championship. Claude Puel prefers a 4-2-3-1 system for Leicester, and the youngster is the heart of the system.
He shoulders all the creative responsibilities of his team, and if the pre-season performances are anything to go by, United will have to be wary of the 21 year old. He is technically strong and clever with his movements and can thread beautiful passes to the wings and forward line.
He is quite efficient on the ball, and the United midfield will have to pay special attention to him, stopping him from dictating the tie.
In the absence of Herrera, McTominay might be asked to do a job on Maddison, but he will require assistance from Fred and Pereira. For United to overcome Leicester City, this youngster will have to be kept quiet, but that will not be an easy task.
#1 The United attack finally clicking
Manchester United were poor in the pre-season, but what specially came to the fore were the subdued performances in the final third. United created very few changes in the pre-season games, scoring only 5 goals in the 6 games they played, and in the last game against Bayern, could not muster a single shot on target.
While the fact that they were depleted on the attacking front during the preseason must be highlighted, there still is a lot more expected from Manchester United, even in pre-season.
United is yet to come back to full strength, and while not everyone will be back for this game, Lukaku and Martial should at least make the bench. The most notable positives from the preseason games were Mata's excellent partnership with Sanchez, and the Chilean's strong run of form.
Sanchez looks hungry and ready for the new season, scoring 2 goals and assisting another in pre-season, that should be a bonus for United. Manchester United will be hoping that their attack can find the pace and rhythm which can help them comfortably brush Leicester City aside.
