Leicester v Man United: injury news and expected line-up

Leicester City host Manchester United at the King Power stadium on 16th October 2021. Here is the injury news and expected starting XI’s.

Foxes’ supporters will be hoping the King Power side can reignite their former form when they face top side Manchester United on Saturday. From a trough of form, Brendan Rodgers needs to get the side firing to have any chance.

Leicester have thus far accumulated an adjusted 7.83 in expected goals, while conceding 10.88 worth of chances to their opposition. We have only created enough chances to score once per match, and conceded enough chances to fall behind in most matches.

Rodgers has an issue with defensive solidity and organisation, as well as midfield and wing progression, where players such as Harvey Barnes and Ayoze Perez have failed to make a serious impact. This match matters a lot. So, let’s see who will be fit and who will not be.

Leicester City injury news

As per LeicestershireLive, the East Midlands outfit continues to have injuries in the defensive department, and now have a major issue in midfield. Injuries have not been kind to the Foxes.

Leicester will be without Wesley Fofana, James Justin, and Wilfred Ndidi. Fofana is a long-term absentee, Justin’s return is edging ever closer, and Ndidi recently suffered an annoying injury, and will be out for a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Jamie Vardy’s setback against Crystal Palace looks to have been nothing too serious, and Jonny Evans looks set to be in contention, though he might not start.

Evans had been ruled out of playing for Northern Ireland, though he trained with them. He returned to train with Rodgers but is still someway away from full fitness.

Manchester United injury news

As reported by TalkSport, in a small boost to Leicester, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may be without both club captain Harry Maguire and summer signing Raphael Varane. The two centre-backs have sustained injuries and look set to miss out on Saturday.

This could mean Scott McTominay being thrusted into a CB role, or Solskjaer could call upon Eric Bailly and Phil Jones to fill in. Eitherway, the Red Devils will be less defensively solid, or may keep Aaron Wan-Bissaka further back to help defend.

Marcus Rashford seems to be returning to fitness, so should be in contention to face LCFC. The England international would be impactful should he feature from the start.

Expected XI

Rodgers will likely opt for one of two systems. Either he will switch to three at the back in a bid to counter a potential Rashford-Jadon Sancho partnership, thus sacrificing one midfielder, or he will place Boubakary Soumare and Hamza Choudhury in midfield with Youri Tielemans to dominate the midfield.

I would expect a back three. As such, the line-up will look something like this: Kasper Schmeichel, Caglar Soyuncu, Jannik Vestergaard, Timothy Castagne, Ryan Bertrand, Ricardo Pereira, Soumare, Tielemans, Ademola Lookman, Vardy, and Kelechi Iheanacho.

We could also see cameos from James Maddison, Choudhury, Barnes, and perhaps also Daniel Amartey depending upon the exact style of play the Foxes’ gaffer goes for. Of course we could also see Iheanacho dropped in favour of a front three with Barnes and Lookman as wingers.