Manchester United head to Leicester City Saturday night for a Premier League clash against the 2015-16 champions. United head into this one still 11 points behind their neighbors Manchester City for the league lead. United boss Jose Mourinho maintains that his side will keep fighting City for the title right down to the last match, but their odds of actually catching them are extremely long.
That bold statement of intestinal fortitude is in stark contrast to the “article” posted on the club’s official website bemoaning the fixture congestion of the festive period. Other than making a pre-emptive excuse for failure, a classic Mourinho press conference tactic, it’s hard to figure what any possible upside was to posting that statement.
Match injury/fitness report: go to this link
The posting has been widely ridiculed on social media and rightfully so, as United’s official website attempts to present the case that their slate is more rigorous than that of their rivals and thus grossly unfair to them.
Leicester City are in eighth place, with 26 points on the season and six off the pace for securing a spot in the Europa League.
Moving on to the United starting XI prediction, here’s what we came up with.
Romelu Lukaku
Anthony Martial Jesse Lingard Juan Mata
Nemanja Matic Paul Pogba
Ashley Young Phil Jones Chris Smalling Matteo Darmian
David de Gea
Odds: Leicester- 15/4, Man Utd- 5/6, Draw- 27/10
Prediction: United 2, Leicester 1
As always, feel free to post your own Man United and/or Leicester starting XI prediction, as well as your forecast for the final score.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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