Leicester v Manchester United: Back United to condemm Foxes to another defeat | OneFootball

Leicester on the ropes

It's looking a long way back for Ruud van Nistelrooy's Leicester City. Just one win in 14 games means they are six points adrift of safety with just 10 games to go. And the fixture list doesn't look too kind to them with their next four games after this reading Man City (A), Newcastle (H), Brighton (A) and Liverpool (H) as well as their final two away games of the season at Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth. As a result, it means they are just 1/33 to be relegated. Despite just four wins in 15 and residing fourteenth, Man Utd somehow are still 17 points clear of the relegation zone to really paint the picture of how bad the bottom three are. The Red Devils will be looking to end the season on a high here under new boss Ruben Amorim.

Leicester City started life well under the former Man Utd interim boss and player van Nistelrooy with a 3-1 win over West Ham and coming back from 2-0 down to draw with Brighton. But there were warning signs even at that stage. It was alarming the amount of chances they were giving up, with West Ham having a massive 31 shots which was the Hammers highest ever amount in a Premier League match and the most shots by losing team in the league since 2010. Brighton themselves managed 16 shots, 10 in the first half alone.

And since then Leicester have gone on to lose 12 of their 13 Premier League matches with their solitary win in this period coming at inconsistent Tottenham. Under Steve Cooper they had been scoring goals with them having found the net in 12 of 13 games but it's been a different story under the Dutchman having failed to score in 10 of these last 13 games, including the last five in a row.

It all means that under van Nistelrooy, Leicester have scored just nine goals in his 15 games - the worst in the league - whilst having conceded the second most with 35 - a goal difference of -26. On average, they are losing football matches 0.60 - 2.33. They've created the fewest expected goals and collected just seven points - only Southampton have picked up fewer with four.

Man Utd masters

Despite all of Man Utd's failings this season under both permanent managers in Erik ten Haag and now Ruben Amorim, they have tended to win the games they are heavily expected to. Of their nine wins this season, eight have come versus 10th and below, with four wins and a draw in five games against the bottom three, with an aggregate score of 13 - 4.

Given Man Utd's squad cost €835M - the third most expensive in the league - regardless of who the manager is, at some point the quality has to give against the lesser talented sides. Seven of their nine wins have come against the bottom six in-terms of most expensive sides. This is also well emphasised in the Europa League with five wins against Steaua Bucharest, Rangers, Viktoria Plzen, Bodo Glimt and PAOK. They've won their last five matches across all competitions when odds-on.

Leicester shouldn't hold any trepidation for this Man Utd side that have won the last five meetings in league and cup including having met three times already this season, winning the aggregate score 10 - 3.

Column P/L 2024/25