Manchester United’s run of opposing team’s key players being ruled out due to injury looks set to continue against Leicester City.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side travel to the King Power Stadium on the Saturday after the international break concludes.
But Brendan Rodgers’ side will be without their midfield rock Wilfred Ndidi after he picked up a hamstring injury last month during the Foxes’ 2-2 draw against Burnley.
The Nigerian being ruled out for the Foxes comes after Gerard Moreno missed Villarreal’s trip to Old Trafford and both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison were unavailable for Saturday’s 1-1 draw to Everton.
Atalanta’s Robin Gosens looks set to miss our Champions League double header against the Italians.
Ndidi a big miss for Leicester
Although Leicester have struggled to hit the ground running so far this season, they are still capable of beating any side on their day.
Alongside Youri Tielemans, Ndidi and the Belgian are one of the best midfield partnership’s in the league, so United will have to capitalise, knowing one of the best holding midfielders around is ruled out.
In Leicester’s 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace, it was Hamza Choudhury who started alongside Tielemans but the England under-21 international was replaced by summer signing Boubakary Soumare.
It’s highly unlikely that Rodgers will go so attacking against United and play Ademola Lookman, Harvey Barnes, Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho with there being no protective screen in Ndidi.
Rodgers could opt to play both Choudhury and Soumare alongside Tielemans against us to camp out the midfield.
Opportunity to attack
With Fred guaranteed not to start the Leicester game due to his international exploits with Brazil.
Solskjaer has the opportunity to play Paul Pogba in a deeper role potentially alongside Scott McTominay and set United up with an attacking intent.
Missing Ndidi will mean that Leicester’s defence won’t have the same quality protection they are use to and Solskjaer has to take full advantage of that.
Only Mohammed Salisu and Joao Cancelo (both 40) have more tackles and interceptions (combined) than Ndidi (38) in the Premier League so far this season.
A front four of Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho, Mason Greenwood and Cristiano Ronaldo could be unleashed from the start.
With the likes of Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial and even maybe Marcus Rashford all ready to come off the bench and punish any weary Leicester players.
Ndidi is a massive miss for Leicester, but it presents a boost for United, which we need to exploit to start a daunting run of fixtures.
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