MANCHESTER UNITEDS’ FRED DENIES FOXES’ HISTORIC VICTORY AT OLD TRAFORD.
Manchester United’s top-four hopes hit a roadblock in the form of a 1-1 draw with Leicester City on Saturday evening, seeing the ‘Red Devils’ extend their winless streak against the ‘Foxes’ to four straight matches in all competitions. United remain three points outside of fourth place for the time being.
With United in the hunt for a top-four spot, the onus was on them to go in search of the opening goal. Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes were both playing higher up the pitch with no recognised striker in the line-up for United. The two combined to try to pull the strings and open up the Leicester backline, but neither were able to unlock the ‘Foxes’ stubborn rearguard. The lack of a centre-forward in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani was apparent in the opening half of play, as a flurry of high-quality balls in the box were casually swept aside by Kasper Schmeichel’s defenders.
The game finally opened up on the hour mark, as United appeared to be on the break but a last-ditch tackle from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall sent Leicester running the other way. With the ball on the left-wing, James Maddison whipped in an inch-perfect ball to Kelechi Iheanacho, who was waiting in the penalty-box to pull off a superb diving header to beat David de Gea, sending the travelling fans into raptures. Fred equalised for the home side almost immediately, stabbing home the rebound from a Schmeichel save, reigniting the ‘Red Devils’ hopes of snatching all three points.
The visitors thought they had retaken the lead with an 80th minute Maddison strike from close range, but the VAR found a foul in the build-up, ruling the goal out to spare the blushes of the United defence, robbing Leicester of their first league double over United since 1974. However, a tough point won away from home sees Brendan Rodgers’ men start to right the ship after losing five of their last six on the road.
