Leicester City welcome Manchester United to the King Power Stadium on Sunday, with both sides looking to bounce back from a string of poor results with a win.
The hosts are without a victory in four, having lost their most recent fixture to fellow Premier League strugglers Burnley, thanks to Sam Vokes’ dramatic 87th winner. Before that, Claudio Ranieri’s side had previously drawn to Championship side Derby after consecutive 3-0 defeats at the hands of both Southampton and Chelsea.
The visitors are not on the best run of form themselves. Jose Mourinho’s side have only won one of their previous five fixtures in all competitions, that being a 4-0 thrashing of former FA winners Wigan Athletic. Three draws on the bounce in the Premier League against Liverpool, Stoke and most recently Hull leave United stranded in sixth place, 14 points behind league leaders Chelsea.
Both sides will be hoping a victory at the weekend can put behind what has been a relatively poor start to 2017 and kick-start the rest of the season.
While Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United are favourites, we think Leicester could just cause and upset and here are THREE reasons why …
The Great Escape
The story of Leicester City’s escape from relegation in the 2014/15 season, where they won their last seven league games straight to beat the drop, was quite remarkable. Clearly, not as remarkable as them going in to be crowned Premier League champions the very next season, but nevertheless, a fine achievement.
The Foxes have it in their locker to do it, and they may just have to do it again this year considering their poor form up until now had them only two points clear of the bottom three going into this weekend. With sides around them improving such as Swansea and Crystal Palace, the realisation that relegation really is a threat for the champions will have set in.
For Claudio Ranieri and his men, the great escape starts this weekend. You know what they say, when the going gets tough…
Lack of Firepower
Leicester haven’t exactly been in fine goalscoring form themselves, but I am actually referring to Manchester United. The Red Devils have scored only twice in their past three Premier League fixtures and they seem to have forgotten just where the net is. Even their top scorer and main man Zlatan Ibrahimovic has lost his golden touch, having scored only twice himself since the turn of the year.
Add into the mix that Leicester signed Malian defender Molla Wague from Granada during the January transfer window who will be keen to impress on what will surely be his Foxes debut, and we could find that United may struggle to break down their opposition once again as they have done in recent weeks.
Upcoming Internationals
England resume their Word Cup Qualifying campaign next month as they take on Lithuania, however the Three Lions also have a friendly fixture against Germany earlier in the month, too. The English boys from the King Power Stadium will be aware of this, and putting in a big performance at the weekend and of course in subsequent weeks is absolutely vital if they are to be in contention for being named in the squad.
Jamie Vardy, whose form has been poor so far this season, has generally impressed on the international stage and will be keen not to lose his place in the England squad having done so well to earn it last season. Meanwhile, Danny Drinkwater is in danger of becoming the forgotten man for Gareth Southgate’s side.
