Manchester United has hit a little bit of a swoon over the course of the last couple games. That said, the Red Devils have got a chance to get back on track at home on Saturday against the team they started off their season with a win against in the Community Shield, the defending Premier League champs from Leicester City.
This English Premier League duel will go down Saturday, September 24, 2016, at 7:30 a.m. ET at Old Trafford. The match will be televised live on NBC Sports Network.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Manchester United -144
Leicester City +420
Draw +285
Over/Under 2.5
Odds Analysis
For our money, Leicester City remains the toughest team in the EPL to try to figure out how to line. On one hand, we're not sure that the team is even amongst the 10 strongest clubs in England at the moment. On the other, it's still the defending EPL champion, and playing well in the Champions League for first-timers. Talent wise, this isn't a fair fight for sure, but it wasn't a fair fight all of last season either when the Foxes continually took points from matches like this one.
Manchester United is set at -144 on the moneyline and is garnering well over half the bets at BookMaker.eu.
The total of 2.5 features a vig of -127 on the over.
Key Injuries
Matthew James and Kasper Schmeichel are both noticeably absent from the Leicester City lineup at this point with various injuries. Marcin Wasilewski is also being suspended for this match after picking up a red card against Chelsea in a midweek affair in the EFL Cup.
Jose Mourinho has a few question marks he has to deal with for this match. Luke Shaw has been in and out of the lineup all year long, and his latest knock is a groin injury that saw him come off against Watford last weekend. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been on the injury report for a couple weeks now as well thanks to a thigh problem but is on the verge of returning, while Anthony Martial picked up a head injury and will be evaluated again as we get closer to the weekend. Phil Jones is the only certain absentee of the bunch after he picked up a knee injury just a couple weeks ago that will cost him at least the rest of September and probably at least a few games in October as well.
Recent Form
Manchester United has had a really tough last two weeks. After winning the Community Shield and firing back with wins to kick off the EPL season against Bournemouth, Southampton and Hull City, the Red Devils were beaten 2-1 at home by Manchester City. That was followed up by a 1-0 loss at Feyenoord, a match that Mourinho fully admitted he couldn't have given one less flying fling about. It was the 3-1 loss last weekend against Watford that really stung, though.
Leicester has been all over the place this year. The team did beat Club Brugge in its first go at it in the UCL in team history, and that was followed up by an emphatic 3-0 win over Burnley last weekend. A 4-2 loss at home against Chelsea in the EFL Cup was a concern for sure, but the fact of the matter is that Claudio Ranieri knows that getting those fixtures out of the way will only help his team in its quest to stay alive in the UCL as long as possible and remain as competitive as possible in the EPL as well.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
These two were in different classes at the beginning of the season, and we can't help but wonder if this is going to be the case once again. Mourinho knows which matches matter and which don't, and this definitely fits in the class of fixtures he really wants to win. With a veteran side that hasn't really been partaking much in the cup ties early in the year, there are plenty of fresh legs to be used in matches like this one, and Martial, Wayne Rooney and the rest of the scoring talent for this team should shine through in a home victory.
English Premier League Odds: Manchester United 3, Leicester City 0
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