Ones To Watch: Manchester United vs Leicester City (Premier League)

Manchester United host Leicester City in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, right before they head into their biggest week of the season.

Next week, United play Barcelona in the second leg of their Europa League tie, bringing home a 2-2 draw, before facing Newcastle United in the EFL Cup final – a game in which United can win their first trophy in six years.

Some fans may go into the Leicester game seeing it as unimportant relative to the two following games, a game we play with an eye on them, but through the eyes of Erik ten Hag the following fixtures will make getting a win in this game even more important as United will want to go into the week ahead with momentum on their side.

Leicester have not had a fantastic season but have players who have proven they can kill teams, evidenced by their 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur last week, and here UtdDistrict highlight one player to watch from each side:

Manchester United – Jadon Sancho

Marcus Rashford felt too obvious a choice, he is in the form of his life right now. It is his fellow Englishman Jadon Sancho who is worth keeping an eye on in this game. Sancho missed some months due to off-pitch issues that had been impacting him, and United fans were happy to see him return recently.

His games since returning have been coming off the bench in a semi-final, coming off the bench 2-0 down at home to bitter rivals Leeds United (and scoring the equaliser), starting away against those same great enemies of United’s before starting at the Nou Camp against Barcelona. Not the easiest first four games.

In the reverse fixture against Leicester back in August, Sancho scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory and played well. This will be the most ‘settled’ game he has played since returning, the others being much higher-pressure, and so it is certainly worth keeping an eye on him in this game as it is a great chance for him to remind the world of the elite talent he possesses.

Leicester City – Kelechi Iheanacho

It is baffling as to why Kelechi Iheanacho doesn’t play more for Leicester City. Every time he gets a run of games he seems to not only perform excellently but also contribute goals and assists in good volume.

The Nigerian forward has started each of the Foxes’ last three games and has contributed three goals and three assists. In the league, he has seven goal contributions in just three starts which are remarkably impressive numbers.

Right now he is getting a run of games and is in a particularly fine vein of form for Brendan Rodgers’ men. It is no coincidence that they have eight goals in their last two league games, with him scoring or assisting five of them, and United are without Casemiro for just one final game so must be extra wary of him. The return of Lisandro Martínez is a very welcome one after missing the game in Barcelona, and he will be key to nullifying the threat of Iheanacho.