Key matchups to watch for: Manchester United vs Leicester City

The international break is over, and it wasn’t a particularly eventful one for Leicester City. Instead we’ll get right back into the Premier League, with a game against Manchester United that we’ve all had circled on the calendar for a little while. Here are some areas the game could be decided.

1. Ricardo/Chilwell vs Rashford/James

United’s wide players have been in good form in front of goal so far, scoring 5 of the team’s 7 goals. With the only other scorer Anthony Martial a possible injury doubt, their attacking output could be key.

Fortunately for us, the Foxes’ fullbacks are among the best pairs in the league. Though neither Ben Chilwell nor Ricardo Pereira are predominantly defensive players, both have the quality to deal with United’s wide threat.

If I play I don’t think it’s going to be a disadvantage and if Chilly plays it’s not going to be a disadvantage for the team. We both offer great qualities and I’m a massive fan of Chilly’s. I’ve got two of his shirts at my house and one hung up on my wall - Spurs and England LB Danny Rose

Chilwell notched his first assist of the season against Bournemouth, with a long ball to Vardy. Other than that, ,hile the performances on the back end have been good, neither has had the attacking impact that they did last season.

It would be good to see both more involved in the build up play. Of course, if they’re being forced back into defence all game, they might be short of opportunities to get so high up the pitch.

2. Hamza Choudhury vs a working formation

The Foxes put in their best performance of the season last time out against AFC Bournemouth. A big part of the improvement seemed to come from Brendan Rodgers dropping out a central midfielder to add extra width to the line up.

However, against the bigger clubs, especially away from home, we’ve often seen the Foxes employ an extra defensive midfielder, who in this case, would probably be Hamza Choudhury.

The academy product was a little unlucky to get dropped, doing everything that’s been asked of him so far. If Wilfred Ndidi wasn’t in front of him, he’d be starting every game and doing a great job.

Still, you can’t deny that when both have played together so far this year, they have looked a little redundant. I wouldn’t be shocked to see them both starting, but I do think they’re better off sticking with what worked against the Cherries.

3. Harry Maguire vs Jamie Vardy

Oh are we playing against Maguire? Totally slipped my mind.

Slabhead was brought in at great expense to solve United’s defensive concerns, resulting in, let me check, just one clean sheet and five points so far.

With that said, Maguire has performed well individually. He leads the team in interceptions and clearances, while boasting one of the league’s best aerial success rates. He isn’t perfect though; he can be caught out of position and his recovery is not the fastest.

We were talking about how good he is on the ball, but defensively I still think he’s… I still have one or two question marks over him. I always worry about his pace on the turn - former United midfielder Roy Keane

If only we had some one who could take advantage of that.

Vardy played himself into good form with two goals and an assist in the last game, and should be rested and ready to go, now he doesn’t have international obligations.

If Leicester can get him as involved as he was then, Vardy will absolutely have some success against his former teammate. The key question, as ever, is can they get him into the game regularly?

He’ll be more than up for proving his point against Maguire, so any time Leicester win possession, their first look should be at Vardy.