EPL 2016/17: Leicester City 0-3 Manchester United : 5 talking points

A job well done by Manchester United

Manchester United brushed aside defending Premier League champions Leicester City at the King Power Stadium to extend their unbeaten league run to 15 games and move within two points of the top four. Goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic within the space of 88 seconds towards the end of the first half undid all of Leicester’s good work before Juan Mata added a third for the visitors amid some ordinary defending by Claudio Ranieri’s side.

The result keeps the champions just two points off the bottom of the table and facing a tough battle to avoid relegation – which would make them the first team in the Premier League era and since Manchester City in 1938 to go down the season after winning the top-division title.

We bring forward the talking points from a feisty game at East Midlands:

#1 Leicester start the brighter of the two teams in a competitive game

The hosts began the game well, with the likes of Riyad Mahrez using his fleet-footedness to give makeshift left-back Marcos Rojo a stern examination. United were slightly sloppy in midfield, with Ander Herrera losing possession in a dangerous position, allowing Leicester to break and force Eric Bailly to make a defensive tackle to prevent Ahmed Musa from going through on goal.

Wes Morgan came close to scoring from a free-kick, while Jamie Vardy looked to press United’s defenders in order to utilise his pace during a potential counter-attack. 

With both teams in need of points for different reasons, it was no surprise to see a fiery contest with tackles flying in and words being exchanged between opposition players. Juan Mata, Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba and Cristian Fuchs went into the book for high tackles while Zlatan Ibrahimovic was constantly involved in altercations with some of the Foxes’ players. The final result was well short of dramatic, but not the approach both teams had coming into this fixture.