Leicester City end Manchester United's unbeaten away record after six-goal thriller
Manchester United's league record 29-game unbeaten away run came to an emphatic end on Saturday as Leicester City claimed a thrilling 4-2 victory at the King Power Stadium.
United's hope of extending their record got off to an encouraging start when English forward Mason Greenwood fired home a spectacular long-range strike in the 19th minute.
However, Leicester pulled level 12 minutes later with an equally impressive goal by Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans, who curled a first time lob over United goalkeeper David de Gea after teammate Kelechi Iheanacho had robbed the ball off United captain Harry Maguire.
A frenetic second half saw both sides push forward in search of goals but it was Leicester who looked the more threatening and their persistence paid off when Turkish defender Caglar Soyuncu poked home from close range in the 78th minute after United failed to clear the ball from a corner.
Marcus Rashford, who came off the bench for his first appearance of the season following shoulder surgery, marked his return to action with a well-taken goal four minutes later, latching on to a fine long-range pass from defender Victor Lindelof, before firing past Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Parity lasted a mere 15 seconds, though, as Leicester regained the lead directly from the restart, Ayoze Perez finding Jamie Vardy inside the United area and the former England international thrashed home a half volley for his seventh goal of the season.
Leicester continued to look the more dangerous team and they made sure of the victory in stoppage time when substitute Patson Daka, the club's big-money summer signing, tapped in from close range after more sloppy defending from United.
"It is brilliant for him," Vardy said. "He has been working so hard in training. I am over the moon for him and I’m sure there are plenty more to come from Patson. Hopefully that will start pushing us forward in the table."
It was a thoroughly deserved victory for Leicester, who have struggled to get going so far this season, having won only two of their first seven games, and manager Brendan Rodgers will hope this result can kickstart their campaign.
"It was massively important," Vardy said. "The most important thing was the performance because we had let our standards slip but we had the international break to reflect on things."
For United, though, the result and performance will raise more concerns. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side have now lost two and drawn one of their past three league matches, and none of those games have been against so-called title rivals.
It was another ineffective performance by Cristiano Ronaldo, who has now gone three Premier League games without a goal and never looked like scoring, while Maguire - a fitness doubt before the match - endured a difficult outing. With Maguire's centre-back partner Raphael Varane out injured for the next few weeks, United's defensive issues threaten to once again be their downfall.
“To be honest, we have been having these kind of games for a long time," United midfielder Paul Pogba said. “We have not found the problem, conceding easy goals, stupid goals. We need to be more mature, play with more experience and arrogance in a good way.
“We need to find something, we need to change.”
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
