5 talking points and preview - Manchester United vs Leicester City
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.