Manchester United vs Leicester City – Match Preview | FA Cup 2024/25

arnav
By Arnav
5 Min Read

Leicester City will clash with fellow Premier League strugglers Manchester United at Old Trafford in an FA Cup fixture this Friday.

Man United sit 13th in the league standings, while the Foxes find themselves in the relegation zone again after briefly escaping it last week. Leicester were thrashed 4-0 by Everton on Saturday, with the Red Devils suffering a similar fate, losing to Crystal Palace 2-0 at home.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy will be particularly fired up for the match, with the Dutchman enjoying his prime days with the Red Devils and also managing them for a couple of games earlier this season. 

Manchester United vs Leicester City – Match Details

Date: February 7, 2025.
Time: 19:00 GMT
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester

Manchester United vs Leicester City – Team News

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Man United will be without centre-back Lisandro Martinez (who served a season-ending ACL injury last week), former Fox Jonny Evans, Luke Shaw, and Mason Mount.

For Leicester, Ricardo Pereira, Wilfred Ndidi and Abdul Fatawu are all sidelined due to injuries and will miss the match. 

Man United vs Leicester City – Match Preview

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United will start the match as firm favourites despite recent struggles under Ruben Amorim’s reign. The Red Devils confirmed the signing of Patrick Dorgu from Serie A side Lecce and will see an FA Cup clash against a struggling Leicester side as the perfect match to hand him his debut. Given their disappointing Premier League season, Amorim will target a cup trophy and likely start his first team against the Foxes.

While many may consider this match a write-off for Leicester, manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy will be particularly motivated to face a side close to his heart. The Dutchman has not rotated his side much in his reign, aiming for the players to be comfortable playing with each other. Thus, like Amorim, Van Nistelrooy will likely deploy a strong starting eleven in the clash.

Leicester’s last trip to one of the Premier League’s “big six” sides was memorable, with the Foxes snatching a 2-1 victory against Tottenham Hotspur in London a few weeks ago. And against a Man United team sitting 13th in the league standings with only two league victories in their past eight games, the Foxes will back themselves to cause an upset. 

Van Nistelrooy will first have to address a glaring tactical error he made against Everton to stand any chance of walking away with a victory on Friday. With the Toffees just one spot ahead of Leicester before the match, RVN instructed his centre-backs to be aggressive in their pressing and to play a high line. However, Jannik Vestergaard and Wout Faes’ lack of pace made it too easy for Everton to run in behind the defence, with the hosts up 2-0 within five minutes. They added a third before half-time, with all three goals resulting from long balls.

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Against Man United, the manager will take a more defensive approach, possibly deploying a low block. With the hosts expected to dominate proceedings, this will negate the risk of the backline being caught out by their lack of pace again. Just like Amorim will see this as a perfect opportunity to debut Dorgu, Van Nistelrooy may also give new signing Woyo Coulibaly his first start. Should the right back impress, James Justin may drop to the bench. 

Man United have comfortably won their past four meetings against Leicester, with their previous three encounters all three-goal margin wins. Two happened this season, with Van Nistelrooy in charge of the Red Devils. The Dutchman won’t want to be at the receiving end of such a defeat, and a fascinating encounter between red and blue awaits us.

Manchester United vs Leicester City – Predicted Starting Lineups

Manchester United predicted lineup: Altay Bayındır; Noussair Mazraoui, Harry Maguire, Leny Yoro; Diogo Dalot, Manuel Ugarte, Bruno Fernandes, Patrick Dorgu; Amad Diallo, Kobbie Mainoo, Joshua Zirkzee.

Leicester City predicted lineup: Mads Hermansen, Woyo Coulibaly, Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard, Victor Kristiansen; Boubakary Soumare, Harry Winks, Bilal El Khannouss; Facundo Buonanotte, Jamie Vardy, Bobby Decordova-Reid.

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