Read Ed Aarons’s match report
Updated
Full-time: Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United
It’s the last kick of the game! That’s it. Through a mixture of wasted chances and last-minute defensive dithering, Manchester United have somehow managed to throw away the three points!
2-2 What a finish! Albrighton hauls one last cross into the box, the injured Smalling (back on the pitch) is unable to backpedal, and Maguire nips in at the back post to calmly slot past De Gea from an acute angle. De Gea should probably have come for the cross, but he assumed Smalling would be able to make the clearance! 2-2
GOAL! Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United (Maguire 90+4)
I can’t believe it! Leicester have done it!
Updated
90+3 min: Smalling has now gone down, surely he can’t continue. Time is off. One minute left.
90+2 min: Leicester are throwing everyone forward now, Albrighton curls a couple of tidy crosses in, well defended by Lindelof, who has played well since Leicester scored. Rashford attacks on the counter-attack, but chooses to keep the ball rather than play Lukaku in.
90 min: Four minutes added on here. United are holding on!
88 min: Smalling has obviously pulled his groin. He’s limping and grimacing, but United have made all of their subs! Jones and Herrera are in deep discussion as to what they should do. Jones wants Lindelof at centre back, but Herrera overrules him. Smalling is out of his feet. It’s 10.5 v 10!
Updated
86 min: Leicester are taking chances, and there are gaps appearing at the back. Rashford breaks forward and it’s three on three. He finds Lukaku, who slips Mkhitaryan through on goal, and the Armenian inexplicably cuts the ball back to nobody, rather than shoot! The substitute has had a terrible time of it since coming on: loose passes, clumsy fouls, and the Leicester fans are cheering every mistake.
84 min: Penalty appeal for Leicester. As a high ball comes into the box, Smalling climbs all over Maguire, right in front of the referee. It’s a blatant penalty, and I have no idea why Jon Moss doesn’t award the spot kick. Absolutely terrible decision making from Smalling, who somehow got away with one.
82 min: Mata off, Mkhitaryan on. The Spaniard is clapped off the field, and given a couple of pats on the back by Mourinho. Well played.
81 min: Mahrez goes down under a challenge of Herrera, and is promptly shown a yellow card for simulation.
79 min: Leicester pour forward, Maguire is dribbling the ball on the edge of United’s box (!!!) but they lose it cheaply and are horribly exposed at the back. Pogba breaks forward and bends a wonderful pass round to Rashford, who is one on one with Schmeichel, who gets the tiniest of fingertips on the ball as Rashford tries to round the keeper. Jon Moss could easily have given that as a penalty, but no dice! United have had two golden chances to finish this match!
Updated
77 min: Some breaking news …
Middlesbrough Football Club have parted company with manager Garry Monk.
— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) December 23, 2017
Club statement ➡️ https://t.co/dww8Eo4xty pic.twitter.com/C7p9CS6B5m
75 min: Manchester United make a sub: Herrera on for Lingard. He gets a good reception from the United away fans, despite his howler.
Red card! No excuses for Amartey, who simply boots Rashford up in the air, as the Englishman glides past him. Puel is quite the picture, both hands in his pockets, a face full of thunder as Amartey trudges past down the tunnel.
Red Card for Amartey! Leicester down to 10 men!
He’s only been on the pitch for 17 minutes!
Updated
71 min: Lingard misses an open goal! It’s Manchester United that are hitting Leicester on the counter attack now. Lukaku holds the ball up well, and times a beautiful slide-rule pass through to Lingard, who rounds Schmeichel cleanly but then hits his shot against the bottom of the left post! It was on his stronger right foot and not even a tight angle. Shocker!
69 min: Rashford comes on for Martial, who looks crestfallen, but does applaud the travelling United fans as he walks off.
67 min: Amartey is booked for bringing down Young. No complaints.
65 min: Leicester make their second change: Okazaki on, Iborra off.
64 min: Manchester United have definitely dropped deeper since scoring the second goal. It will be interesting to see if they’ve got the creativity to break down United down once they are properly set defensively.
1-2 The Spaniard curls it over the wall, and beyond the outstretched hand of Schmeichel! Question marks perhaps over the keeper’s positioning, but the free-kick was so close that Schmeichel had to properly guard the far post. He couldn’t hedge his bets, and Mata’s aim was true. Weirdly, he celebrated with the same praying celebration (minus the roly-poly) that Keane used earlier.
GOAL! Leicester City 1-2 Manchester United (Mata 61)
Mata gets his second of the evening, direct from the free kick!
Updated
59 min: Martial wins a free-kick right on the edge of the box, brought down off the ball. Twenty five yards, out, Mata is over the ball.
57 min: Simpson is not going to be able to continue. He’ll be replaced by Amartey, who hasn’t played in the league since the opening day of the season.
55 min: Play stops, as Simpson is struggling with a knock. Jon Moss issues a yellow card for Albrighton, who cynically tripped Lingard.
53 min: Mahrez, meanwhile, is turning it on. He shows Young left, and goes right to the byline, flashing a low cross right across the six-yard box, which misses everybody but Fuchs at the back post. He takes a touch and hammers a shot goalwards, but Lindelof recovers well to get his block in. That was a certain goal otherwise!
51 min: There is still acres of space for Martial, but he seems to have lost a bit of confidence, and isn’t causing Simpson nearly as many problems.
50 min: It’s a slow, sluggish start to the second half. Simpson and Morgan with a lot of sideways passes.
49 min: Meanwhile, in India.
The classic Robbie Keane celebration with an Indian twist 😍
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) December 23, 2017
Watch it LIVE on @hotstartweets: https://t.co/HafkZKLTNX
JioTV users can watch it LIVE on the app. #ISLMoments #KOLDEL #LetsFootball pic.twitter.com/DMSNuKtsYY
47 min: Yellow card for Matic, who pulls back Mahrez after the Algerian nutmegged him.
Peeeeeep! We’re off again. No changes at the break, Mourinho was out in his dugout a good five minutes before his players came out of the tunnel.
Half-time reading:
Half-time: Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United
A great half of football.
45+2 min: Pogba is perhaps a little lucky to escape a caution after pulling back Simpson cynically.
45 min: Two minutes added on here.
44 min: Twice Manchester United have wasted excellent crossing opportunities. First Martial tried a dummy when he would have been much better controlling the ball, next Pogba’s cross is underhit when Lukaku and Martial were waiting completely unmarked at the back post.
43 min: A neat trick from Mahrez wins a free kick, from which Manchester United completely go to sleep! Albrighton floats a cross to the back post, and Maguire ghosts in completely unmarked, but three yards out, is unable to control the ball! Young clears. What a let off.
41 min: Simpson has his hands up in the air in protest, he’s been given no protection by Albrighton, and Martial has taken him to the cleaners.
1-1 Martial’s deflected cross drops to Lingard on the penalty spot with his back to goal. He nicely takes the sting out of the cross, lays it off to Mata, who has time to take a touch and steer a low shot into the bottom right corner.
GOAL! Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United (Mata 39)
And just as I write that, Manchester United score.
Updated
36 min: Leicester have United right where they want them. United coming onto them in numbers, Leicester coiled ready to spring on the counter.
34 min: Pogba, unperturbed by his earlier effort tries his luck from the half-way line. It trickles out for a goal kick. He seems to have reverted to 2016-17 Pogba, in which he tries too hard, and doesn’t seem to have that much of an end product.
32 min: Corner to United, but it doesn’t beat the first man. Poor. Lindelof is booked for a nasty challenge on Iborra. Nowhere near the ball, he racked the Spaniard’s shins.
30 min: Pogba shoots from 30 yards, the ball goes 40 yards over the bar. Mourinho is prowling the touchline. He’s not a happy bunny.
28 min: Manchester United have been by far the better side, creating a number of openings, but they are behind. Sloppy defending, and Leicester will punish you. That pass from Ndidi really was something else, first time off the laces. Lush.
1-0 This is vintage Leicester City. Vardy collects a clearance, lays it off to Ndidi, who plays a sublime first-time pass over the top to Mahrez. Smalling gets back initially, but with Jones and Lindelof only jogging, Vardy comes searing up in support to create a two-on-one. Mahrez simply passes left, Vardy shoots right of De Gea and it’s 1-0!
Updated
GOAL! Leicester City 1-0 Manchester United (Vardy 27)
Vardy scores on the counter-attack!
Updated
24 min: Iborra is quietly having a very impressive game. Doing well to control the tempo when Leicester’s counter-attacking isn’t an option.
22 min: Pogba dissects Leicester’s midfield with one pass, and suddenly it’s three on three at the back. Martial stands Simpson up – the Leicester City man looks like he’s gone ice skating – but just as Martial is pulling the trigger, Ndidi saves the day with a wonderful sliding tackle, the ball rolling into Schmeichel’s arms.
20 min: Leicester have their first sustained period of possession inside Manchester United’s half.
18 min: Martial is tearing Simpson to shreds on United’s left flank. Twice he’s cut inside Simpson with quick feet, now he leaves him for dead down the touchline, latching onto a nice floated pass from Mata. Martial crosses, but Lukaku’s acrobatic bicycle kick flies off his shin into Row Z.
16 min: Our first lull of the game.
14 min: United’s away support are in good voice, singing their “20 times Man Utd” song. Leicester’s home support respond with “Champions of England, more recent than you.”
12 min: Leicester are coming under a lot of pressure, but always carry that threat on the break. Particularly on the left, where Gray is up against Lindelof, filling in for the injured Valencia. Lindelof hasn’t exactly shone since his move from Benfica and right back is certainly not his natural position.
10 min: It’s wave after wave of Manchester United attacks. Lingard in particular is finding pockets of space all over the place. He picks up a pass from Matic and slips a lovely reverse pass to Lukaku … Maguire just about gets a toe out to take it away from the Belgian.
8 min: Pogba is strutting around the midfield like a peacock. He’s got the captain’s armband on tonight, and it shows. On the edge of Leicester’s box, he feints left and fizzes a rasping show at Schmeichel, who does well to hold it with Martial and Lingard sniffing around for a rebound.
6 min: Leicester show some attacking intent for the first time, Gray slipping a lovely ball for Vardy to gallop onto. Vardy is forced wide, wins a corner which Lukaku does well to defend.
4 min: Ndidi is caught out of position and Lingard exchanges passes with Lukaku – there is a ridiculous amount of space in the middle. Lingard shoots, deflects off Maguire and Schmeichel does well to claw it over the bar. Excellent start from United and Lukaku in particular, who has held the ball up well and brought others into play.
2 min: Manchester United look slick in possession, Maguire and Morgan doing well to charge down shots from Lingard and Mata, before the ball goes out for a corner. The first cross is defended well but Mata tries again, and Smalling has a free header from six yards out! Over! He got slightly under it, but definitely should have done better.
Peeeeeeeeeep! And we’re off.
The teams are out. Leicester in all blue, Manchester United in Santa red.
“Vardy is clearly the more accomplished finisher! Would have loved to see him at Arsenal where chances come at a more frequent rate”, emails Daniel Hadebe. “Lukaku is being found out as average at best and nowhere near a £75m player.”
“Vardy needs to play for a team who don’t have the ball, so that when they get it there is space to exploit on the counter, writes David Acaster. “He did this superbly in the title winning season. Lukaku is better putting the final knife in at the end of a high-pressure attack, and he’s better at bringing a player like Dele Alli or Marcus Rashford into an attack.So I consider Vardy is better for Leicester City and Lukaku is better for Manchester United.”
Updated
At least these are better than those Vardy masks.
Updated
“Vardy certainly is a better player due to his overall contribution to the attacking play whereas Lukaku always looks a bit hesitant on the ball,” says Manchester United fan Parth Batra. “Morata would’ve been a better buy.”
I’ve been a bit selective with the below stats, and Lukaku has become a bit of a scapegoat in recent weeks, but there’s no denying he doesn’t show up in the big games. His unfortunate defensive clangers in the Manchester derby also haven’t helped.
Updated
Quick poll, who is a better striker: Jamie Vardy or Romelu Lukaku?
Answers (and any other thoughts for tonight) to michael.butler@theguardian.com or tweet @michaelbutler18.
Vardy certainly turns up in the big games: 41% of his goals in the past three seasons have come against the Premier League’s top six clubs. By contrast, Lukaku has only scored 8% of his goals against the same six.
Updated
There were rumours that Zlatan Ibrahimovic could make his first league start since his return from injury, but he’s only good enough for the bench, alongside Henrikh Mkhitaryan, his first appearance on a Manchester United league teamsheet in nearly a month.
Leicester line up as expected, although it’s interesting to see Islam Slimani return to the bench. He hasn’t been involved in the last five match-day squads.
The teams
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan, Maguire, Fuchs, Ndidi, Iborra, Mahrez, Gray, Albrighton, Vardy.
Subs: Chilwell, King, Hamer, Dragovic, Amartey, Slimani, Okazaki.
Manchester United: De Gea, Jones, Lindelof, Smalling, Young, Mata, Matic, Pogba, Lingard, Lukaku, Martial.
Subs: Rojo, Ibrahimovic, Rashford, Romero, Ander Herrera, Mkhitaryan, Shaw.
Referee: Jonathan Moss
Updated
Preamble
Claaaaaaaude Puel
Claaaaaaaude Puel
Mahrez, Gray, Vardy, Ndidi, Chilwell
It’s been a funny old week for Leicester City. Up until last weekend, Claude Puel had lost just one game (to Manchester City), winning five and drawing two of his eight matches in time. But then Crystal Palace game to town, cruised to a 3-0 away win, to leave us all a little baffled. Leicester were a little unlucky to lose again to Man City in midweek, which suggests the Palace game was just a blip. But who knows. What is certain is that up until he was sent off last weekend, Wilfred Ndidi had not missed a minute of football since Puel took over. Whilst Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and Demarai Gray have taken the plaudits, the Nigerian has quietly becoming one of the most accomplished central midfielders in the division – no other player has made more tackles (77) in the Premier League this season – and when he was given his marching orders against Palace, Leicester went to pieces. he returns to the side tonight after serving a suspension in the Carabao Cup, which will be vital against a returning Paul Pogba.
That’s right, Pogba is back, baby. It might be too late for the title ‘race’, but for Manchester United fans hoping to avoid a repeat performance of the Bristol City Debacle, his return is not a minute too soon. It seems a lifetime ago that the Frenchman was sent-off for stamping on Héctor Bellerín but with his three-match ban served, he’ll take his place at the heart of United’s midfield, behind 2018 Ballon D’Or contender Jesse Lingard.
What’s not to like? It’s blockbuster Saturday night football, under the lights. Both teams have a point to prove … should be a Christmas cracker.
Kick-off: 7.45pm GMT
Updated
