Newcastle leaves the ‘Champions zone’ surpassed by a Tottenham (4th) who won 2-0 in the last game against West Ham (18th) in the London derby. The ‘Spurs’ have 42 points, one more than Newcastle, who lost 2-0 against Liverpool (8th) on Saturday, and are now 7 behind United.
But United is not only fighting for the Champions League, but also remains in contention for the league title, reducing its deficit against Manchester City to three points (which did not go beyond a 1-1 draw against Forest on Saturday) and to 6 units from Arsenal, who regained the lead by beating Aston Villa 4-2 (11th) and who also has one game less.
At Old Trafford, the ‘Red Devils’, who could not count on the suspended Casemiro, were led by a Marcus Rashford in great shape, who scored the first two goals against Leicester (25 and 56) and sentenced Jadon Sancho shortly after game time (61). Also notable was the performance of the Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea, who with two saves from shots by Harvey Barnes (8) and Kelechi Iheanacho (20) prevented the ‘Foxes’ from getting ahead on the scoreboard.
Rashford double
After those first two scares, Rashford appeared and scored on the first local occasion, taking advantage of a long pass from the Portuguese Bruno Fernandes to beat Danny Ward with a shot close to the post (25). The goal gave the Mancunians confidence, who from then on took full control of the game and Rashford widened the differences after the break.
The English striker is in great form and has scored 16 goals since competition resumed after the World Cup in Qatar, out of the 24 he has scored this season counting all competitions, 14 of them in the Premier League.
Another player who little by little seems to be rediscovering his usual level of play is Jadon Sancho, who entered the break and sealed the game, culminating in a great collective action (61).
“Leicester started playing very brilliantly and we were very undisciplined. It was thanks to David de Gea that we were able to keep a clean sheet. We fixed some things in the second half and we played the way I want the team to play,” he declared. the Mancunian coach Erik ten Hag.
A victory and a moment of form for United that should give them confidence ahead of the second leg of the play-off for access to the Europa League round of 16, next Thursday at Old Trafford against Barcelona (2-2 at the Camp Nou) and the League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday against Newcastle in what could be the Red Devils’ first title since 2017.