The second half was all Manchester United as they cruised to a 3-0 victory over Leicester City at Old Trafford.
Five players were replaced from the team that drew with Barcelona at Spotify Camp Nou earlier in the week.Players like Diogo Dalot, Victor Lindelof, Lisandro Martinez, Marcel Sabitzer, and Alejandro Garnacho were given starting roles.
Despite United’s early dominance, Leicester eventually got into the game and had a number of good scoring opportunities that were all denied by David de Gea.
Rashford scored against the flow of play for the home team on a wonderful outside-of-the-boot assist from Bruno Fernandes.
Rashford extended United’s advantage shortly after halftime, but the goal was first ruled out due to an offsides call by the video assistant referee.
The game-winning goal was scored by substitute Jadon Sancho, effectively ending any hope the foxes had of mounting a comeback.
United are now firmly in third place in the Premier League table, three points behind second-place Manchester City thanks to this win.
This is our impression of the game.
Second-half Man Utd. dominance was devastating for Leicester.
For the first half of the game, Brendon Rodger’s squad may have been superior over the home team. They had more chances, but David de Gea made two incredible saves to keep the score at zero.
The right wing was too open for Leicester since Garnacho wasn’t always there to close the gap.
Ten Hag made a change in his offensive third, shifting Rashford to the left wing and inserting Weghorst into the role of striker he is most accustomed to playing. Sancho took Garnacho’s place and played mostly in the number 10 position.
Castagne did not risk going forward since doing so would have given Rashford a lot of room to work with on the left wing.
By the 60-minute mark, the Red Devils had launched a vicious offensive and added two more goals to their lead. Another goal might have been scored if Lisandro Martinez’s header hadn’t hit the crossbar.
The luck of the draw was with Marcel Sabitzer.
United should consider themselves fortunate that they did not go down to 10 men after Sabitzer’s vicious challenge on Leicester defender Wout Faes.
Replays showed that Sabitzer’s studs went into Faes’ knee, but the referee didn’t call a foul on the play.
VAR This could be because the tackle wasn’t made with enough power or momentum for Paul Tierney to support the on-field decision.
Milestones achieved by Marcus Rashford and David de Gea
After today’s victory, De Gea tied Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel with 180 clean sheets. Even so, it was not a walk in the park for the Spanish national team player.
A header by Iheanacho looked headed for the bottom left corner, but he dove to his left to deny Barnes from close range.
De Gea has already amassed a plethora of accolades and he is United’s all-time leader in appearances (he has made 101).
Thanks to his two goals today, Marcus Rashford has scored 24 times in the 2022–23 season, an all-time high for a single season.
Further, he scored in his seventh straight home Premier League game, making him the first United player to do it since Wayne Rooney.
