City Suffer First Defeat Of 2019/20
Following the first international break of the season, Brendan Rodgers made two changes to the XI that beat AFC Bournemouth last time out, as Demarai Gray and Hamza Choudhury were both handed starts in Manchester.
Both outfits applied pressure from the off, with Kasper Schmeichel denying Andreas Pereira with a fine stop, before the City goalkeeper’s long ball set up James Maddison, whose strike was turned away by the legs of David De Gea.
However, despite an even start to the game, Çağlar Söyüncü conceded a penalty following a foul on Marcus Rashford, who converted from 12 yards to make it 1-0 after only eight minutes.
A sublime half-volley from Ben Chilwell, who played 90 minutes in England’s win over Kosovo earlier in the week, then forced De Gea into a good save, before Söyüncü nearly made amends, but also couldn’t beat Man Utd’s ‘keeper.
After the interval, Schmeichel was forced into making another save, this time by Juan Mata, while a well-struck free-kick from Maddison flew just inches over De Gea’s crossbar at the other end of the pitch.
City continued to pressure their opponents, and while they boasted 58 per cent possession throughout, they could not breach Manchester United’s back line, with Wilfred Ndidi the last man to go close as he dragged a half-volley wide in injury time.
Major moment
“Leicester City were beaten by a Marcus Rashford penalty,” reflected a frustrated Gerry Taggart at the full-time whistle.
That proved to be the case, and while James Maddison, Ben Chilwell, Çağlar Söyüncü and Wilfred Ndidi all threatened to equalise, Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s men stood firm to seal the win.
Who impressed?
Gerry Taggart told LCFC Radio: “I don’t think anybody really stood out for me today, I have to say. It was a really hard game today, but the one player that was always tried to make that spark happen and probably came the closest to scoring for Leicester City, was James Maddison.
“I think James just about pips everybody else at the post.”
Where do we stand?
A maiden loss of the season sees City drop two positions, to fifth in the table, after victories for Tottenham Horspur and Manchester United.
Brendan Rodgers’ side have accumulated eight points from five Premier League matches.
Coming up…
A return to King Power Stadium follows a week later for Leicester City, who will host Tottenham Hotspur in a 12:30pm BST kick-off.