Manchester United won their second match in a row on Sunday, taking a fairly straightforward three points home from the King Power Stadium after a 3-0 win over Leicester City. Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Foxes showed some fight but no teeth against Ruben Amorim’s men and could do nothing to stop Bruno Fernandes, who continued his good form with two assists and a goal of his own.
(Really should have captained him in fantasy this week)
The opening half hour of the match was a mostly dull affair. The hosts showed why they’re second from bottom of the table and haven’t scored a goal since the two sides met in the FA Cup early last month, but United looked a bit livelier than usual with all of the space to run into. Eventually, it played to their advantage as Bruno picked out Rasmus Hojlund on a through ball with the Foxes defense playing a high line. The Dane took the ball in stride and buried it past Mads Hermansen to put United up 1-0.
It was Hojlund’s third goal of the league campaign and his first since early December, meaning the sight was a huge relief for everyone with Red rooting interests.
The Reds had to hold off a couple of chances for Leicester City, but the defense was more than up to the challenge. Ayden Heaven in particular, showed a lot of confidence and ability. Unfortunately, his stay in the side seems to be short-lived as he left early in the second half with an ugly injury.
Heaven held off Patson Daka from attacking a cross to the back post and took a tumble out of bounds in doing so. A stretcher was called in to take the 18 year old off the pitch and Toby Collyer came in to replace.
With the center-back crisis exacerbated it seemed an opportune time for the Foxes to strike, but Matthijs De Ligt and Victor Lindelof held their own. The former had a particularly memorable block to keep the clean sheet after Vardy and Daka had him scrambling, but his sliding challenge meant Andre Onana didn’t even have to make a save.
The Reds regrouped and took control in the final stages of the match, starting with another goal for a player who needed it.
Alejandro Garnacho took a Bruno toe-poke pass on the turn and struck quickly to beat Hermansen at his near post and double the lead. It was the second time Garnacho put the ball in the back of the net, but the first time he did it without being a hair offside.
Bruno finished the job with a goal of his own in the final minutes, receiving the ball from Dalot at the top of the box and firing into the left corner of the goal.
Job done, three points in the bag, going back to Manchester ahead of the international break. It’s a chance to refocus on the remainder of the season before a UEFA Europa League quarterfinal date with Lyon and a Manchester Derby awaiting in April.