Manchester United 2-1 Leicester: Premier League highlights and recap

Manchester United beat Leicester 2-1 in the Premier League on Friday, Aug. 10. Here are all the highlights from the match.

After an ill-tempered preseason, the majority of which Jose Mourinho spent complaining about the quality of his squad, Manchester United got off to a winning start to the Premier League season, beating Leicester 2-1 at Old Trafford on Friday.

United took the lead from the penalty spot in only the third minute after Daniel Amartey handled in the box. After Wes Morgan blocked Alexis Sanchez’s shot, Amartey controlled the ball with the top of his arm. Paul Pogba converted the penalty.

United took confidence from the goal, and played some lovely soccer in the very early stages, with Pogba, Fred and Andreas Pereira all impressive in the middle of pitch. After about five minutes, however, Leicester began to take over.

New signing James Maddison, brought in to replace Riyad Mahrez, was particularly impressive playing in a free role off Kelechi Iheanacho up front. He had Leicester’s best chance shortly before the half-hour mark, but was denied by an excellent David de Gea save.

That was the Foxes’ best chance of the half, but they could take heart from the way they controlled the play, and it was telling that United center-back Eric Bailly was probably the standout player of the first period.

Leicester picked up where they left off in the second half, but seemed to lose some of their momentum as the game approached the hour mark, misplacing more and more passes ino the feet of their attacking players.

United also improved, and began to regain control of possession thanks to more good work by Pogba and Fred in the middle. Despite seeing more of the ball, however, chances were hard to come by.

In fact, the first chance of note for either side came after 75 minutes, Demarai Gray stabbing Jamie Vardy’s cross toward goal. He couldn’t quite connect as he would’ve liked, however, and de Gea saved well.

United responded with their best non-penalty chance of the match only three minutes later. Romelu Lukaku, on as a substitute for Marcus Rashford was denied by an excellent save by Kasper Schmeichel.

And Mourinho’s side finally doubled their lead in the 83rd minute through, of all people, Luke Shaw. After a nice spell of United possession, Shaw beat Ricardo Pereira with a slightly fortunate touch, before finishing past Schmeichel.

There was still time for Leicester to pull one back in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, Vardy heading in after Ricardo Pereira’s cross evaded everyone and bounced off the back post, but United held on for the win.

Highlights

In the second week of the season, United travel to Brighton, while Leicester host Wolves.