Man Utd Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up against Leicester City

Manchester United need to quickly get back to winning ways after being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Bristol City in midweek and face a tough trip to take on Leicester City on Saturday as their Premier League season reaches the halfway mark.

Jose Mourinho will want to see his players produce a quick response after their midweek upset and wholesale changes are likely to be made for the trip to the East Midlands. And while they sit 11 points behind neighbors City at the top of the table, a positive result in the league should be seen as the first step back on the road to redemption.

The visit of Leicester is the first of four games in less than nine days of the busy holiday period and Mourinho will be hoping for 12 points from the festive fixtures to get his season back on track.

HAND INJURIES, OTHER

Zlatan Ibrahimovic played 68 minutes in the midweek cup defeat at Ashton Gate, but despite finding the net, he still looks far from fit. As such, he is likely to return to the bench for the trip to Leicester.

Eric Bailly is out for the foreseeable future with a serious ankle injury sustained on international duty with the Ivory Coast which has led to the need for surgery, while Marouane Fellaini could still be out with a knee injury.

Antonio Valencia picked up a slight hamstring problem against West Brom last Sunday so could be touch-and-go for this weekend, but Michael Carrick will remain on the sidelines following a procedure to deal with a pace irregular heartbeat.

MAN UTD SUSPENSIONS

Paul Pogba has now served his three-match ban following his dismissal against Arsenal for a poor challenge on Hector Bellerin and returned to the team against Bristol City in midweek.

Ander Herrera has been booked four times this season and a yellow card against Leicester would see him handed a one-match ban, while the same can be said for Ashley Young and Marcos Rojo. In fact, the Argentine has been cautioned in four of five domestic appearances this term, with Wednesday’s cup exit representing his first appearance without a caution.

Claude Puel’s Leicester have the advantage of not having any players missing through suspension or on the brink of a ban.

MAN UTD POTENTIAL STARTING LINE-UP

Jose Mourinho made 10 changes against Bristol City in midweek but could return to something like the side that beat West Brom for the trip to the King Power.

Assuming Antonio Valencia resolves his hamstring problem, he will start, but if he is missing, then Ashley Young could move to right-back, with one of Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo or Matteo Darmian filling in on the left.

Paul Pogba will make his first league appearance since his red card at Arsenal, but in attacking midfield there could be a late decision on who starts. As the only player to start against both West Brom and Bristol City, Marcus Rashford could be rested with Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata candidates to return alongside Anthony Martial.

LEICESTER TEAM NEWS

Leicester City have really turned their form around since the arrival of Claude Puel in place of Craig Shakespeare in October, but in the last seven days they have suffered the double blow of a league drubbing by Crystal Palace and a painful exit from the League Cup on penalties -hate. City of Manchester.

The Foxes have built their return to form on the solid foundation of a rarely changed back five, superbly orchestrated by Kasper Schmeichel, skipper Wes Morgan and recent England call-up Harry Maguire. Meanwhile, it would appear that they are finally getting over the loss of Premier League winner N’Golo Kante thanks to the midfield performances of Wilfred Ndidi. Riyad Mahrez has also been flying high once again recently, while Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki continue to be a very real threat in attack.

Despite Saturday’s home defeat to Palace, the 2015-16 champions have already picked up 17 points from nine games under their new boss. This marks a significant improvement on Shakespeare’s record of six points from eight games in goal.

BEST LITTLE EIGHT INFO

• Manchester United have lost just one of their last 12 league visits to Leicester (W7 L4), a 5-3 defeat in September 2014.

• Manchester United have conceded in each of their last five away games in the Premier League, but have managed to win their last three in a row (L2).

• Indeed, Man Utd’s haul of three wins from their last three away games is more than they had managed in their previous 10 Premier League outings (W2, W4, W4).

• Jose Mourinho has won five of his six Premier League games against Leicester City – the exception being a 2-1 defeat in his last game in charge of Chelsea in December 2015.

• Jesse Lingard has scored in each of his last three Premier League away games, scoring four goals in total. He had scored just three goals in his last 29 road goals in the competition.

• Romelu Lukaku has been involved in five goals in his last six Premier League games against Leicester City (four goals, one assist) – however, the Belgian failed to score a penalty against the Foxes earlier this season at Old Trafford.

• Marcus Rashford has been involved in 16 goals (nine goals, seven assists) in 27 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions this season, one more than he managed in the whole of 2016-17 (15).

• Jamie Vardy is still one goal away from reaching 50 in the Premier League – his first in the competition came in Leicester’s 5-3 win over Man Utd in September 2014, while he also set the record for most goals consecutive Premier League goals scored by a player. (11) with his strike against the Red Devils in November 2015.

TV COVERAGE AND START TIME

The match at the King Power Stadium kicks off at 19:45 GMT on Saturday, with live coverage available in the UK on Sky Sports Premier League from 19:00.

In the United States of America, Watch the Premier League live and on demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial)