It’s a good hair day for 100% United
MARCUS RASHFORD came off the Manchester United’s bench to make sure Jose Mourinho’s team will go into the international break at the top of the Premier League.
And, as everyone knows, once a Mourinho side gets in front in a title race it usually proves almost impossible to haul them back.
The Portuguese then sent on two more replacements – Jesse Lingard and Marouane Fellaini – and the Englishman set up the Belgian for the second goal on 82 minutes.
United have started the campaign like a juggernaut, all relentless power and pace, sweeping aside opponents with a pair of impressive 4-0 victories in the opening games.
For all their achievements, United haven’t won three consecutive League games by at least a four-goal margin for 110 years and Leicester mustered enough resistance to ensure that didn’t happen here.
Yet United should have had at least one more on the scoreboard because Romelu Lukaku had a penalty saved in brilliant fashion by Kasper Schmeichel just after the break.
United grind out results, wearing teams down through sheer pressure as the match goes on. Eight of their ten goals this season have now come after half-time and six of them in the last eight minutes.
Mo ur i n h o’s team ar e n ow unbeaten in their last 31 home games in all competitions, their longest run for more than six years.
Leicester hadn’t won here for 19 years and that run goes on.
United went for the throat from the off and Wes Morgan had to launch himself into a desperate block to deny Henrikh Mkhitaryan before Leicester had a touch of the ball.
But there is enough of that Premier League-winners DNA left in Craig Shakespeare’s team for them not to roll over at the first sign of adversity.
Jamie Vardy was foiled when an unfortunate bounce on a long through ball from Riyad Mahrez took the ball beyond his control and into David De Gea’s arms.
Juan Mata had the ball in the net in the 18th minute after Schmeichel had pushed away a stinging drive from Lukaku, but the Spaniard was flagged offside. It was marginal.
Paul Pogba got round the back and sent a low shot just beyond the far post then Schmeichel made a wonderful leaping save to claw away Mata’s clever chip.
Vardy set up Shinji Okazaki but his low effort from outside the box was too close to De Gea and he saved comfortably.
In the space of three minutes Po gb a curled one shot past Schmeichel’s right- hand post, another past his left- hand upright and a third cover his crossbar.
Anthony Martial got the next effort on target but the Danish keeper smothered it well and he was alert at his near post to deny Pogba soon afterwards.
Another 25- yarder from the Frenchman whipped past the post and his free-kick from that distance spun wide off the Leicester wall.
It seemed that United had indeed made the breakthrough eight minutes into the second half when referee Michael Oliver judged that Martial’s cross had been handled by Danny Simpson.
Lukaku struck the penalty with venom but Schmeichel pulled off a superb save from the spot-kick.
De Gea saved with his feet from Mahrez at the foot of his post and then substitute Demarai Gray delayed his pass to Mahrez too long at the end of City’s best breakaway of the afternoon.
Mahrez then drove low across the face of goal and Mourinho had had enough. On came Rashford for Mata and in less time than it takes to soft boil an egg he had United in front.
Mkhitaryan swung over the rightwing corner, nobody got a head on it and the youngster volleyed in from on the penalty spot. Schmeichel got a hand to it but even he couldn’t stop it going in.
And just to illustrate Mourinho’s mastery of the tactical substitution, his second replacement Fellaini deflected in a cross from his third, Lingard, in the 82nd minute.
The Belgian might have been marginally offside but it was probably justice for the Mata goal that was ruled out in the first half.
Schmeichel undeservedly finished on the losing side but he had one more excellent save left in him when he tipped Lukaku’s shot over his bar in stoppage time.