Manchester United 3 Leicester City 0
Marcus Rashford’s 23rd and 24th strikes of a campaign he will long cherish were taken with cool aplomb and sent Manchester United en route to the perfect start of what they aim to be a landmark eight days. Erik ten Hag’s men are again five points behind Arsenal, having played a game more, and entertain Barcelona here in Thursday’s Europa League last-32 second leg, the tie poised at 2-2. Knock the Catalans out and beat Newcastle in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final and United will have enjoyed their finest week and a-day of recent memory.
Rashford’s first-half opener, against a Leicester team that might have already been 4-0 up, made him the first United player to register in seven consecutive Premier League home outings since Wayne Rooney in 2010. The centre-forward’s second, after the break, had him skating on to Fred’s pass and beating Danny Ward through the goalkeeper’s legs, while Jadon Sancho’s finish derived, too, from a smart United sequence: Lisandro Martínez pickpocketed Kelechi Iheanacho and passed to Rashford who pinged the ball to the wideman. After swapping passes with Bruno Fernandes Sancho’s left foot did the rest.
This was all as bright and sharp as how United had initially taken the contest to their visitors, as Fernandes and Rashford claimed corners via barrelling runs along the right. Luke Shaw executed these but they amounted to nothing and, now, Leicester began counterpunching.
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Wout Faes, Victor Kristiansen, and Tetê knitted passes together and the last of these zipped down the right for Timothy Castagne and turned United on their heels. They escaped but more dangerous Leicester play ensued. Harvey Barnes procured the ball from Iheanacho, shot, and saw David de Gea’s right mitt repel this. Then, Iheanacho ran in, stumbled, and his weak effort was blocked by Victor Lindelöf.
“Champions of England more recent than you” sang Leicester’s support gleefully to their hosts, who soon, again, were back-wheeling frantically: Tetê's cross would have been met by the unmarked James Maddison if not for Fred, who had sprinted back to cover for his side.
Tetê, signed from Shakhtar Donetsk on loan in January, was raiding those in red for fun along his right flank: the next time featured him cutting inside and blazing across De Gea’s goal and deepened Ten Hag’s unhappiness at what he witnessed from the sideline. When Iheanacho rose to head at goal the manager seemed about to curse the opener before De Gea made another sparkling save to his right, this one not unlike Gordon Banks’s famous stop from Pelé at the 1970 World Cup.
It was vital because United soon scored. A loose Faes pass was gobbled up by Marcel Sabitzer who fed Fernandes. The playmaker’s outside-of-a-boot release had Rashford padding in and, on pulling the trigger, the No 10 beat Ward to the latter’s right.
Ten Hag hailed the strike while pulling Diogo Dalot over for a stern word about positioning, the manager conscious of his team’s vulnerability. Yet still United were open, as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall illustrated when being allowed to let go a skidding attempt that missed narrowly.
In this tale of two leaky defences Leicester’s was the next to be breached when Wout Weghorst, operating at No 10, tapped to Dalot who after surging forward relayed the ball to Fernandes on the right. He delivered a daisy-cutter back to Dalot and the defender, yards out, should have doubled the lead.
When the sides changed ends Sancho had replaced Alejandro Garnacho for United who soon had Martínez crashing a header off the bar, Fernandes warming Ward’s digits, and Rashford slaloming through Leicester’s area but unable to beat the goalkeeper. Weghorst – with an ungainly overhead kick plus two late fluffed chances – and Fernandes – shooting straight into Ward’s hands – followed on the list of those in United livery suffering profligacy before Rashford showed how, for the second time this afternoon.
Sancho’s goal was his second in three league appearances, killed off those in blue, and ensured United took six of the nine points available during the three-match suspension of their lead midfielder, Casemiro. And the clean sheet resulted in De Gea equalling Peter Schmeichel’s record of 180 for the club. – Guardian
