Premier League: Manchester United face Leicester in massive test of top four hopes
It’s an unfortunate truth for Manchester United that their traditional rivals aren’t their problem now. Instead, it a resurgent Leicester who present the biggest threat in war for the top four.
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It is four years since they won the most surprising title in Premier League history but now Leicester look well placed to storm the top four — with misfiring Manchester United in their sights this weekend.
Can you remember the feeling? The disbelief, the incredulity, perhaps even some of the delight? Leicester City’s Premier League title of 2015/16 still boggles the mind.
In the age of billion-dollar super clubs, how could this tiny midlands team win the Premier League title?
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And it wasn’t just some by-the-skin-of-their-teeth thing either.
Claudio Ranieri’s side topped the table 10 points ahead of Arsenal, 15 points ahead of Manchester City, 21 clear of Liverpool. Even looking at that table now, it’s hard not to comically rub your eyes to check you’re seeing straight.
After that undreamable high, Leicester dropped back to what many would see as their more natural position — 12th in 16/17, then ninth over the past two years. Considering what might have happened to a club of their stature after that moment of sporting history, to retain enough Premier League presence to avoid the relegation many thought likely underlines how well the club has been run.
Rather than collapse, the biggest challenge since has been finding a manager capable of pushing the club upwards again.
After Ranieri’s time ended, club man Craig Shakespeare and Frenchman Claude Puel both struggled to do create a team of capable of achieving something.
But the arrival of Brendan Rodgers, after a controversial mid-season exit from Scottish champions Celtic, has given the Foxes a coach who knows how to construct an energetic, attacking football team that looks perfectly suited to Leicester’s position and ambition.
This weekend’s early kick-off is Liverpool v Newcastle at 9.30pm Saturday night. Manchester United face Leicester at midnight Sunday (EST).
It is early days to be overwhelmed by optimism — Rodgers has only been in charge for 16 games — but the signs are there.
The Foxes are unbeaten after four games this season, third on the ladder behind Liverpool and City, they have a well-balanced team that features a number of real match-winners and on current form look a good bet to take a bite out of one of the bigger animals in the melee that is developing beneath the top two.
None of Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea look like particularly convincing top four certainties so far — and Leicester only recently spoiled Frank Lampard’s Stamford Bridge homecoming with a deserved draw in north London.
And then there are their opponents this weekend, Manchester United, the staggering giant, a huffing and puffing silverback gorilla struggling to maintain his territory in the face of leaner, hungrier rivals. It would be fitting to hire David Attenborough on a one-off gig to provide the commentary.
Old Trafford is an unforgiving jungle these days where nothing is certain — Crystal Palace have already left a scar after snatching the kind of late victory that was once United’s solely owned intellectual property.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Leicester did something similar to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s misfiring team.
One of the unintended benefits of Leicester’s midtable finishes is the absence of overseas distractions. Without the drain of Europe, the Foxes only have one game a week, giving Rodgers plenty of time to prepare for his opponents — an advantage that was key to his best period as Liverpool manager.
And given the way his time at Anfield ended, Rodgers knows beating the big kids is the best way to make a statement of intent.
Make no mistake, Leicester have the weapons to punish United, with resurgent striker Jamie Vardy chief among them. The 32-year-old isn’t quite the terror he was four years ago but Rodgers knows how to create an attacking unit.
On his own, Vardy was too easily isolated by opposition defences — but now he has the support to stretch those backlines and create the space an out-and-out striker like Vardy thrives in.
14 - Jamie Vardy has been directly involved in 14 goals in 14 Premier League games under Brendan Rodgers (12 goals, 2 assists). Entrusted. pic.twitter.com/8tQyJOKr8S
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 31, 2019
The versatile Ayoze Pérez, signed from Newcastle for $50m where he scored 12 goals last season, can operate as an addition forward or winger.
Attacking midfielder James Maddison is one of England’s rising stars. The 22-year-old is thoroughly involved in Leicester’s forward play, creating chances and laying on two of the Foxes’ three away goals this season.
Then there is attacking midfielder Youri Tielemans, also 22, who was signed for $70m from Monaco. His eye-catching displays towards the end of last season — with three goals and five assists on loan, Tielemans had a direct involvement in a goal for every 136 minutes he was on the pitch — he could be one of the bargains of the season.
The Belgian is a box-to-box midfielder, with an eye for goal — one for himself and one assist so far this season — and the ability to switch the play at pace with short or long passes and unleash another counter attack.
Anyone who remembers Rodgers’ Liverpool side of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge knows this is one of the coach’s strengths.
With the attacking component looking so bright, Leicester’s defence was supposed to be the big concern for Rodgers, particularly after losing Harry Maguire to United for a world-record fee.
But three goals conceded in four games suggests the Foxes have adjusted quite well to the exit of their defensive leader.
Maguire, on the other hand, is finding the grass is not always greener — United haven’t kept a clean sheet in three games and those fixtures against Wolves, Palace and Southampton have yielded just two points.
Old Trafford these days offers more opportunity than fear for teams willing to have a go at Solskjaer’s inconsistent outfit. And Leicester have already shown that they’re ready to have a go at everyone this season.
After dropping from second to sixth, will Old Trafford stand another season out of the Champions League?
Solskjaer has admitted making the top four will be difficult — and in Leicester, he might just be facing the team that will keep him out of it.