FULL TIME: Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United
And that’s that. Leicester hold on for a point. Both teams went for the three points during those breathless closing exchanges. Both contributed to a fine match overall. But neither did quite enough to win, and neither deserved to lose. So a draw’s about right, then. Manchester City are the new Premier League leaders, Leicester are second, and United sit third. But this match isn’t really about any of that, is it? Congratulations to Jamie Vardy, who has now scored in 11 straight matches, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League record, and joining Stan Mortensen in second spot on the all-time English top-flight list. If Vardy scores against Swansea next week, he’ll join Jimmy Dunne at the top. No pressure. But then again, when’s he ever let the pressure get to him during this amazing run?!
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90 min +1: There will be two added minutes. In the first, Young makes good down the left, and crosses deep. Schlupp heads weakly clear. Darmian, coming in from the right, creams a rising shot towards the top left. It’s not far away, but clears the bar.
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90 min: Ulloa plays a gorgeous first-time ball round the corner and down the right wing, releasing Vardy into the United half. He’s clear of Smalling, the last man! But he’s too far wide for a shot, allowing Smalling to recover. Vardy crosses into the centre, but Ulloa’s been unable to keep up. What a chance that was!
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88 min: A free kick for Leicester out on the right. The hosts load the box. Drinkwater takes a poor free kick. Doesn’t beat the first man. United clear easily. But Leicester come back at them, and Drinkwater tries to make amends with a shot towards the top left from 25 yards. Not quite.
87 min: Schlupp tries to burn Smalling on the left wing. He’s got plenty of pace, but so has the defender, who has been immense tonight. Smalling wins the battle in a very calm fashion, and strides off upfield in the casual style.
86 min: Leicester can’t get hold of the ball at all. They’re desperate to hear the final whistle, though while United are certainly on top, it’s not quite relentless backs-to-the-wall stuff. “Better De Laet than never,” quips Julian Le Saux, dusting down one of the classics of the Premier League era. It never gets old, does it.
84 min: This is attack versus defence now. Young tries to whip in a cross from the left, but it’s blocked. Darmian crosses well from the right this time, nearly allowing Young a shot at the far post. Then Darmian wins a header down the inside-right channel. It releases Memphis into the area, but his control lets him down, taking the ball to the right. He slashes wildly over the bar, and wide too, from ten yards. He should have been bearing down on goal.
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82 min: Darmian is sent into acres of space down the right. United have committed plenty of men forward, and they’re all fairly irritated when the full back clanks a woeful cross deep into the stand behind the goal.
80 min: Leicester’s final change: De Laet comes on for Simpson.
79 min: Depay makes a nuisance of himself down the left, and scoops a glorious cross up and down towards the far post. Mata is in space to take the ball down and shoot, but doesn’t do it quickly enough. Schlupp comes over to block. Leicester deal with the resulting corner.
78 min: Mata dinks a ball into the Leicester area from the right. A kerfuffle in the area, and a corner’s forced on the left. Huth just beats Smalling to the header, and clears upfield. The play stops as Smalling has taken a clock on the noggin. He’ll be OK to continue.
76 min: The pattern of this game is set now. United have the ball for the majority of time. They ping it around awhile. Occasionally they lose it, and Leicester try to put together a quick break. Twice in a minute Smalling snuffs out dangerous runs, first from Schlupp, then Vardy.
74 min: Ulloa rides a couple of challenges down the left before sending Vardy scampering off after a pass. Vardy’s pace panics Blind into hacking to touch. Fuchs launches another of his long throws into the area, but Smalling is all over it.
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73 min: Fuchs, in the middle of United’s half, chips a ball down the inside-right for Ulloa, who checks on the edge of the area, turns, and then looks for the top left. Nope!
70 min: A second change for Leicester: Schlupp comes on for Albrighton.
69 min: An astonishing throw from Fuchs on the left. He Delaps it towards the penalty spot, on a diagonal route towards the far post. Vardy nearly connects with a telescopic leg, but Blind ushers him out of the road. The ball wheechs out of play to the right of the goal.
68 min: Rooney, who has been poor again today, is replaced by Depay. The home fans, via the medium of folk song, compare him unfavourably to Vardy.
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66 min: Nearly another magnificent breakaway goal for Leicester! United lose possession in the Leicester half, and Mahrez dribbles at pace down the right. He cuts inside, then rolls a pass into the middle for Vardy and Ulloa, both on the edge of the box. Ulloa, on the left of the D, takes a touch back inside to get Smalling out of the road. He’s one on one with De Gea, but shoots lamely at the keeper’s legs. More a miss than a great save, to be honest. How Leicester will wish he’d left that for Vardy.
65 min: Mata sprays a lovely pass wide right to Martial, who is in space to the right of the Leicester box. He’s surely going to break into the area. But no: he’s denied by some relentless snapping by Albrighton, who eventually scuttles off with the ball. Marvellous defence.
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63 min: United with the possession again. It’s all in the middle of the park. Leicester seem happy enough to let them do their thing. The minute Martial and Darmian try to combine down the right, the move’s snuffed out and the ball rolls through to Schmeichel.
61 min: Okazaki is replaced by Ulloa.
59 min: Mata gently curls a cross into the Leicester area from the left. It’s meant for Martial, but Huth stoops to head purposefully clear. But United are soon coming back at Leicester, and Mata, looking to turn and make good for the box, is upended 30 yards out. A free kick in a central position. From the set piece, Schweinsteiger heads goalwards again, but not with any great purpose. “Schweinsteiger has turned into Joe Jordan,” quips a rather happier Gary Neville on Sky.
57 min: Fuchs has the ball at his feet, 30 yards out, down the inside-left channel. He curls a pass through the United back line, meant for Vardy, who is rushing into the area from the inside-right. Vardy would have been clear with only De Gea to beat, but Okazaki manages to get in the way of the pass, and United clear.
55 min: Mahrez briefly threatens to zip clear down the right wing, but Smalling steps across to intercept, hold the ball under pressure from three blue shirts, then find the safety of Carrick infield. Smalling has been United’s best player tonight. Very composed.
53 min: Darmian wins a corner for United down the right. Blind’s set piece flies straight through the box, though both Morgan and Rooney should have connected, one way or another. Leicester don’t look very sure of themselves at all these set pieces. United could make hay if they get enough opportunities.
51 min: Kante doesn’t have much space out on the left, but still manages to dig a cross out, sending the ball flying dangerously towards the back post. Mahrez is tearing in with a view to connecting, but Smalling gets in the way. Fine anticipation. United were again a little ragged at the back.
49 min: ... United nearly score. Young whips to the ball onto the head of Schweinsteiger, ten yards out. Schweinsteiger nearly repeats his trick of the first half, but his powered header goes straight at Schmeichel, who parries into the air. Rooney attempts to head the loose ball home, but he’s offside, can only squirt the ball to the right of the target from six yards out, and winds himself in the process. Not a success, all told.
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48 min: Martial goes over Fuchs’ clumsy leg, and wins a free kick to the right of the Leicester box. This is a very dangerous position. Young and Mata stand over it. And ...
46 min: No changes have been made, by the way. A long ball down the middle is accidentally flicked backwards by the head of Carrick, freeing Albrighton down the left flank. Vardy is free in the middle, but Albrighton’s shovelled cross is overhit, and Young is able to clear. United very light at the back there. A real chance for Leicester to regain the lead, right at the start of the half.
And we're off again!
This match is perfectly poised. And it’s been marvellously entertaining. More please! Leicester get the ball rolling for the second half, but only after a false start. The only way is up, up, up!
Half-time entertainment: Here’s a classic Forgotten Story from the Guardian archive: the tale of Leicester City’s doomed tilt at the Double in 1963, exquisitely told by the peerless Rob Bagchi. “We learned an important lesson today, lads. But for the life of me I don’t know what it is.”
HALF TIME: Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United
Not a bad time to score an equaliser, huh? United had been all over the shop since the Leicester goal, but that could change everything. What an entertaining half of football. The Premier League at its to-and-fro-ing best. Should be a cracking second half. You’re going nowhere, right?
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GOAL! Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United (Schweinsteiger 45+1)
The ball’s whipped into the box. Okazaki is brushed out of the way by Schweinsteiger, who crashes a header past Schmeichel from six yards. No messing! What determination to reach that ball. Schweinsteiger v Okazaki: no contest.
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45 min: Young has looked threatening down the left. He turns Simpson inside out down the left, then curls a dangerous ball towards the far post. Martial is lurking, but Drinkwater rises to glance the ball out of play to the right of goal. Corner. From which ...
43 min: Mahrez has already been cynically checked by both Young and Blind. Now it’s Rooney’s turn, as the Leicester winger looks to make off down the right. Like Blind before him, he does well to escape a booking.
42 min: Space for Mahrez again on the left of the United box. His low cross is dealt with by Smalling, but only after a fashion. Vardy and Drinkwater were both hovering with menacing intent. United seem a bit short on confidence right now. A goal would change all that, of course.
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40 min: Vardy scampers after a long ball down the left. De Gea comes out to the edge of his box to claim. Vardy clips the keeper’s toe accidentally. De Gea’s not too impressed. The pair exchange insults. Vardy effs and jeffs at the keeper in a style that wouldn’t confuse too many lip readers.
38 min: More United possession, and for a while it looks like being TCP sterile. But then Martial twinkle-toes his way down the left, and skips along the byline. He fires a low cross to Schweinsteiger, who wants to bundle home at the near post, but the ball is blocked out for a corner. Rooney meets the set piece with a terrible downwards header that softly drifts out of play, miles to the right of goal.
35 min: Rooney goes on a high-speed skitter down the inside-right channel. He looks to break past Fuchs on the edge of the area, but over-runs the ball and so decides to go over instead. The referee isn’t buying it.
33 min: On the United bench, Louis van Gaal has a face on. Ryan Giggs is talking to him quite a lot, but the number one is wearing a thousand-yard stare. His team have had the majority of possession, but much good it’s done them. And now they’re suddenly second best to everything. “Has anyone picked up on the fact that ‘Fuchs’ is the German word for fox?” asks Shaun Wilkinson, because someone had to. “Wonderful pass, great nominative determinism.”
31 min: Mahrez bursts into the United box on the left, after a one-two with Vardy, who is everywhere. Mahrez fires a low, hard shot towards the bottom-left corner. De Gea stands strong and kicks it clear, a magnificent save. United are on the ropes a little here.
29 min: United are rattled. Rooney tries to hit back quickly, but once again gets himself in a tangle on the edge of the box. Up the other end, Okazaki isn’t far away from getting his head to a long Drinkwater ball down the middle. Then De Gea, under pressure from Okazaki and Vardy, nearly tees the record-breaker up with a free shot into an empty net! His misplaced pass down the left isn’t trapped by Vardy, and Blind comes across to snuff out the danger. But really. The King Power is bouncing.
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26 min: “Manchester United used to counter-attack like that,” sighs Gary Neville on Sky. A mix of admiration and irritation. Either way, there can be no higher praise. That was a stunning goal on the break. What a pass by Fuchs, and what a finish!
JAMIE VARDY: RECORD BREAKER! Leicester City 1-0 Manchester United (Vardy 24)
Bang goes Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League record! Schmeichel feeds Fuchs down the right. Fuchs strokes a gorgeous long, low, curling pass down the wing to release Vardy past Young and Darmian. Vardy takes a step into the area, draws De Gea, and fires a low shot past the keeper and into the left-hand side of the net! What a goal! Vardy has now scored in 11 consecutive top-flight games, matching the feat of Blackpool legend Stan Mortensen in 1951. Next in his sights: the 12 goals of Sheffield United’s Jimmy Dunne.
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23 min: Schweinsteiger earns United a corner down the left. The set piece lands on Smalling’s head, ten yards out, but the defender can’t connect. Morgan does his best to accidentally Cruyff Turn the ball into his own net, Djimi Traore versus Burnley style, but the ball squirts right for another corner. Schmeichel claims that one easily enough. Leicester storm upfield, and...
22 min: Ah! Here’s Martial! He injects a little pace into a United attack down the left. A one-two with Young, and he reaches a ball he had no real right to get. His instant clip to the near post is met by Schweinsteiger, but Morgan steps in to block his gentle shot. What lovely work by Martian there, though.
21 min: The Leicester free kick is a pointless nonsense. United break down the other end. Young again finds himself in space down the left, and yet again looks rather dangerous, curling a cross into the area that should be met by a crashing header, but isn’t. Where was Martial?
19 min: Mahrez goes on a dribble down the middle. He’s sent crashing to the floor by a fairly agricultural shoulder charge from Blind. The United man is fortunate to escape a booking, though he’s the recipient of a lengthy educational talk. He’ll need to watch himself now.
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18 min: Kante whips a high cross into the United area from the left. Vardy isn’t far away from glancing it goalwards with his eyebrows. De Gea claims.
17 min: Young whips a cross into the Leicester box from the left, but there’s only Martial in there, and the home side clear easily enough. Another phase of United attack is soon coming, and Rooney ends that with his second uncertain long-distance shot of the match.
16 min: From the resulting free kick, Leicester force United deep. Darmian gets himself into all sorts of trouble by the corner flag on Leicester’s left, but just as it looks like he’s conceded a needless corner, an offside flag calling out Vardy saves the day.
14 min: Darmian whips a pass inside from the right to Rooney, who attempts to release Mata into the area with a first-time prod down the middle. But he misplaces his pass, allowing Morgan to head clear. Leicester break quickly, and Young is booked for a cynical tug on Mahrez’s shoulder.
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13 min: A throw for Leicester deep in United’s half, out on the left. They take Simon Mignolet levels of time to launch the bloody thing back into play. Eventually the ball breaks to Vardy, on the left-hand edge of the box. He thinks about shooting, but takes too long, so lays off for Kante, whose snapshot is deflected wide left for a corner. Albrighton clumps a useless one straight through the box, and the pressure on United is relieved.
11 min: United are already enjoying the lion’s share of possession. Some more patient passing in the midfield. Rooney probes down the right, but the door is slammed shut. No matter, the ball’s recycled back up the pitch. Then Young tries to cut in from the left to work some space to shoot, but there’s nothing doing there either. But the away side are on top in this game of chess.
9 min: The set piece is launched into the Leicester box. Schweinsteiger dillies and dallies and Leicester threaten to break. But that move collapses, allowing United to come again. Rooney takes a shot from the left-hand side of the D, but doesn’t connect properly and the ball apologetically trundles into the grateful arms of Schmeichel.
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8 min: United turn up the tempo a little. Darmian is set scampering into space down the right and earns a corner off Drinkwater, whose last-ditch tackle was highly necessary. Without it, the full back would be free in the box.
7 min: Four United players in their own half. No Leicester players in it. United knock it around awhile. Eventually Smalling recognises the need to move forward and launches a diagonal ball towards Mata on the left. It flies out of play. A slow start from both teams.
5 min: A long ball into the United half. Under pressure from Vardy down the left, McNair is forced to hack out of play. From the throw, Fuchs hoicks a high ball into the United box, but De Gea is never losing an aerial battle with Mahrez and plucks it from the sky.
3 min: Okazaki turns neatly in the middle of the park to make space, then sets Mahrez away on a run down the right. His low cross towards Vardy is intercepted calmly by Smalling. A pretty, pacy move by the home side, though.
2 min: Leicester stroke it around the back awhile, getting a feel of the ball. Two can play a softly-softly patient game, it would seem.
And we're off!
United get the ball rolling. Vardy snaps at Schweinsteiger’s ankles, forcing him to pass the ball straight out of play. An early sign that Leicester intend to give this a good go, and that United won’t be afforded too much time to do their thing.
The teams are out! A traditionalist’s delight this evening, with both sides sporting their famous first-choice strips. Leicester in blue, United in red. There’s one hell of an atmosphere in this stadium. A blue-and-white mosaic covers the fans in one stand. The cards they’re holding will be set down before kick-off, but the volume will stay up, I’ll be bound. We’ll be off in a minute!
And now here’s his opposite number, Louis van Gaal, who has been asked how his team will respond to their much-criticised performance against PSV the other night. The United boss does his usual thing of looking his inquisitor up and down with glorious disdain, then eventually answers with a sigh: “This is another competition, another match. Most of the time I am very proud of my players. It was a big deception, but that’s also an aspect of football, you can lose, win or draw, and a draw feels like a loss. You know what I mean, I think.” Tinder dry. Saying nothing, and yet everything, at once. I’m not the only one who pictures Van Gaal going back into the dressing room after these interviews and laughing until his lungs explode, am I?
Claudio Ranieri speaks! A big evening for Leicester City, sir? “Yes of course it’s a big evening. I don’t know how many times Leicester was top of the league after 13 matches. It’s good for our fans, who are dreaming. Our plan is always the same, we play in the same way. We will try to stop them, but also to play our fast football. We will try to win the match. If it’s not possible, well done to The Manchester! I hope Jamie Vardy breaks the record today. Because somebody, someday, will break the record.”
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It’s Christmas soon! November’s nearly out, so don’t be having a pop at me for raising the subject. Anyway, I’m not the only one. With the upcoming festive season in mind, there’s a reindeer parked outside Leicester’s stadium tonight. It’s none too warm, so he’ll be enjoying the weather. What a cute little fellow. It’s a reminder for us all to write our letters to Santa, who may or may not be rocking up to the King Power for the Chelsea game in a couple of weeks time. “Dear big man, all I want for Christmas is a half-and-half scarf.” Hey, in the world of football, it’s always the season of goodwill.
While we’re waiting for the kick-off ... here’s the story of Leicester’s remarkable start to the season in new-fangled video form. Stats served with a squelching Yamaha DX7 bassline.
Leicester make just one change to the team that thrashed Newcastle United 3-0 last weekend. Leonardo Ulloa drops to the bench, with Shinji Okazaki taking his place. Manchester United meanwhile swap four of the players who wowed ‘em against PSV Eindhoven in midweek. Paddy McNair comes in at the back, Michael Carrick returns to the engine room, and Ashley Young and Juan Mata join him in the midfield. Marcos Rojo, Morgan Schneiderlin, Jesse Lingard and Memphis Depay are the men who step down.
The teams
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Mahrez, Kante, Drinkwater, Albrighton, Okazaki, Vardy.
Subs: De Laet, King, Schlupp, Ulloa, Dyer, Schwarzer, Inler.
Manchester United: De Gea, Darmian, Smalling, Blind, McNair, Carrick, Schweinsteiger, Young, Mata, Martial, Rooney.
Subs: Depay, Romero, Fellaini, Schneiderlin, Rashford, Jackson, Andreas Pereira.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
Good evening
Leicester City can’t possibly last the course, while Manchester United are too boring to win the league. There, that’s the spirit-crushing cynicism out of the way.
But what’s the point of football if you can’t dream a few dreamy dreams, or revel in the moment while the sun shines? This fine morning, ahead of the 14th round of matches in the 2015-16 Premier League, Leicester City stood top of the table. They’ve won four of their last five games. They’re the highest scorers in the league, with ten-in-a-row Jamie Vardy deservedly getting all the plaudits. They’re flying higher than they’ve ever flown since the days of Matt Gillies and the Ice Kings of 1963. They’re a third of the way to the most outrageous and unexpected league championship since Alf Ramsey led Ipswich Town to the title in 1962. The pragmatists will argue that it’s unlikely to happen. But so what? As things stand, it’s on!
As for Manchester United? They might not be pinging the ball around like the 1953 Hungarians, the Brazil side of Mexico 70, or the Manchester United team of 1994. But they sure as hell know how to get a result. They haven’t lost in nine. They’ve only conceded two goals in their last 840 minutes of football. They’ve got the best defensive record in the league. Despite their aesthetic travails, they’re second in the division, and if they suddenly start clicking when they attack, attack, attack attack attack, they could take some beating in the title race. The pragmatists will argue that it’s unlikely to happen. But so what? As things stand, it’s on!
Both teams can go top with a win at the King Power Stadium tonight. United are favourites with the bookies, and the way they flatly refused to countenance anything other than victory at Watford last week shows how difficult it’ll be for the Foxes to deny them this evening. On the other hand, Leicester are the form team - they’ve won 15 of their last 22 Premier League matches - and came back from two goals down in this fixture last season to thrash United 5-3. So anything’s possible this evening. For both sides. Plenty for us look forward to. Plenty of dreams still to dream.
Oh, one other small thing ... if Vardy scores for the 11th consecutive match, he’ll break Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League record, match Stan Mortensen’s run for Blackpool in 1951, and will be just one behind the all-time English top-flight mark set by Jimmy Dunne of Sheffield United in 1931-32. So yes, this game, it’s a biggie. It’s got all the ingredients for a stone-cold classic. It. Is. ON!
Epoch o’clock: 5.30pm.
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