Match Preview: Manchester United vs Leicester City

Manchester United 1st 0-0-0 vs Leicester City 1st 0-0-0

Live from Old Trafford on NBCSN at 3 PM ET

Can you believe that the Premier League season opener is tomorrow? It’s been a nonstop relentless footie(soccer) fueled Summer and now we get to settle in to three days of match bliss! While the inbound transfer window is shut on the sun blitzed coast of England, a few wayward birds can still take flight from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, or perhaps even Newcastle depending on what club has sold you.

Manchester United

After a weak attempt to sign Harry Maguire, Claude Puel cheekily stated that Harry would be coming to Manchester, but only for a couple of hours. Jose Mourinho wasn’t super pleased with their transfer window and their lack of incoming transfers didn’t help to supplement the amount of players they will be missing match day one thanks to the World Cup.

While you may have been hearing all week about how United’s best players will be missing, don’t think for a second they won’t be a strong side that can punish us at a moment’s notice. Their key player will be Alexis Sanchez, who Foxes fans don’t have to think that far back to how he’s managed to terrorize Leicester’s back four. He’s had a whole off-season to rest and played some strong minutes in the pre-season.

Leicester City

While it may be one fans humble opinion, I think the Foxes had the better transfer window. Bringing in not one, but two centerbacks, James Maddison and Racchid Ghezzal could be some fun to watch as the season progresses.

Leicester’s starting eleven will be a thing of mystery. Johnny Evans may fail a late physical to face his old team, while England stars Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire’s starting positions may be left up to the toss of a coin. Good news is Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi have settled and rested up from their World Cup and are a shoe-in to start.

Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

Prediction

Manchester United 2 Leicester City 3

Leicester will strike early to take a shock 1-0 lead only to find themselves down 2-1 at halftime. The Foxes will come out strong to start the second half and find a winner through the boots of Jamie Vardy as he shows what he can do with only ten minutes in a game when he actually gets passed the ball.