Leicester City 4, Manchester United 2
Manchester United lost their first away match in the Premier League since January 2020 after a calamitous last 12 minutes at Leicester City.
Embed from Getty ImagesDefeat spelled the end of their record 29 game unbeaten Premier League run in stunning fashion at the King Power Stadium and forced boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to admit that something had to give with misfiring United who could not cope with the high pressing Foxes.
The Reds conceded a goal for the first time after half time in an away Premier League game since December 2020 – and three goals by Caglar Soyuncu, Jamie Vardy, and Patson Daka after the break sealed the win for the Foxes.
United slumped to 5th place in the table following their second Premier League defeat in three games – with only a home draw to Everton in between the embarrassing defeat today and a close defeat by Aston Villa on September 25.
It had all looked comfortable for United, who had welcomed back captain Harry Maguire after a lengthy injury layoff, after Mason Greenwood broke the deadlock after 19 minutes at the King Power with a 25 yard arrowing strike after a 1-2 with Bruno Fernandes.
Youri Tielemans levelled the scores after 31 minutes with a lobbed shot over David De Gea into the top left corner from the right side of the box after he got the ball from Kelechi Iheanacho who had robbed Maguire.
A draw looked a creditable result after the Reds had spent much of the game struggling against the better organised Foxes, De Gea tipped a Tielemens shot onto his post and saved from Daka, until it all went ballistic in the last 12 minutes.
With 78 minutes on the clock Soyuncu shot into the bottom corner with a left foot effort from Ayoze Perez’ corner after the Reds failed to clear the rebound after De Gea saved again from Daka.
But the drama wasn’t over as Marcus Rashford equalised with a shot into the centre of the goal from Victor Lindelof’s ball over the top after 82 minutes after United made some belated changes.
Just 54 seconds later the Foxes regained the lead through Vardy from 12 yards out after Perez found him following a good advantage played by the referee following the restart.
And Daka finally made sure there was no way back for the Reds, scoring the Foxes’ fourth in injury time from close range to become the first Zambian player to score in the Premier League when he bundled the ball in at the back post following some poor United defending from a Tielemans set piece given away by Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
MATCH STATS – Leicester City 4, Manchester United 2
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Castagne, Soyuncu, Evans (Vestergaard 88), Pereira, Maddison (Perez 73), Tielemans, Amartey, Vardy, Iheanacho (Daka 77), Soumare
Subs: Ward, Bertrand, Barnes, Albrighton, Choudhury, Lookman
Goals: Tielemens 31; Soyuncu 78; Vardy 83; Daka 90+1
Man Utd: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, Matic (McTominay 80), Fernandes, Pogba, Greenwood (Lingard 80), Ronaldo, Sancho (Rashford 65)
Subs: Henderson, Bailly, Mata, Dalot, Telles, Van de Beek
Booked: Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Pogba
Goals: Greenwood 19; Rashford 82
Referee: Craig Pawson