Man Utd vs Leicester Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 English League Cup
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It is the first game of the post-Erik ten Hag era with interim coach Ruud van Nistelrooy taking charge of Manchester United after Ten Hag’s sacking the other day. They now face a Leicester City side that have actually started the 2024/25 season reasonably well.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Wednesday 30th October, 2024: UK – 7:45pm / US ET – 3:45pm / US PT – 12:45pm
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports+ / US – CBS Sports
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Sky Sports+ app / US – Paramount+
MAN UTD PREVIEW: THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA
Manchester United have moved uncharacteristically quickly in the last couple of days with Sporting CP informing the Portuguese stock market that United are set to pay the release clause for Ruben Amorim with Van Nistelrooy only set to take charge of this game before Amorim takes charge of their game against Chelsea at the weekend.
The Red Devils have been genuinely awful throughout this campaign with just four victories in 14 games across all competitions so far this season and they were beaten 2-1 by West Ham United at the London Stadium in controversial circumstances at the weekend. They may well benefit from some typical new manager bounce.
LEICESTER PREVIEW: FOXES FINDING A WAY
Leicester City, with Steve Cooper at the helm, have overperformed pre-season expectations despite supporters still being generally unhappy with their strategy and performance level in the opening few weeks of the campaign. They are hovering just above the bottom three and the relegation places but have lost just four of their opening nine matches.
The Foxes have reached this stage of the EFL Cup with a 4-0 hammering of League Two Tranmere Rovers and then a penalty shootout win against League Two Walsall which brought about the ire of Leicester supporters. They were beaten 3-1 by Nottingham Forest at the King Power Stadium at the weekend.
MAN UTD TEAM NEWS: SHAW SETBACK
It was confirmed by Erik ten Hag in his final post-match press conference after defeat to West Ham at the weekend that Luke Shaw has suffered an injury setback so he will be unavailable.
As well as Shaw, they have several other injury absentees including Harry Maguire, Kobbie Mainoo and Tyrell Malacia with Mason Mount and Noussair Mazraoui also doubtful.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Onana; Diogo Dalot, De Ligt, Evans, Martinez; Casemiro, Eriksen; Garnacho, Fernandes, Rashford; Hojlund
UNAVAILABLE: Maguire (Injured), Yoro (Injured), Malacia (Injured), Shaw (Injured), Mainoo (Injured), Antony (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Mazraoui (Injured), Mount (Injured)
LEICESTER TEAM NEWS: FOXES ISSUES
Leicester’s priority this season is to avoid relegation in the Premier League and up against a potentially revitalised United, it may be difficult to summon the belief and motivation here.
In his pre-match press conference, Steve Cooper did give an update on his Danish defensive duo with Jannik Vestergaard returning but Victor Kristiansen unavailable for the visitors.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Ward; Pereira, Coady, Okoli, Thomas; Skipp, Winks; Decordova-Reid, El Khannouss, Mavididi; Ayew
UNAVAILABLE: Stolarczyk (Injured), Kristiansen (Injured), Choudhury (Injured), Daka (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
MAN UTD VS LEICESTER PREDICTION
Manchester United and their supporters have seemingly always stuck together even in times of genuine extreme difficulty so without a permanent manager at the helm but a club legend still in the dugout, it should be quite a strong and good atmosphere at Old Trafford. Leicester are expected to make quite a few changes and this competition is a distraction for Cooper and the Foxes. A fairly comfortable United victory is to be expected for this one as they seek a quarter-final appearance in the EFL Cup.
MAN UTD VS LEICESTER TIP: MAN UTD TO WIN -1 HANDICAP
