Read Daniel Taylor’s match report:
Bye!
Right, that’s all from me. Leicester deserved their draw, last-gasp penalty appeal aside (Sky’s experts unanimously say it should have been a penalty, I refuse to believe that the contact Depay felt was sufficient to cause him to fall, and thus think he should have been booked for diving), but must wait at least until tomorrow before sealing the title. Their players will watch the Chelsea v Tottenham game together somewhere. Their manager will ignore the Chelsea v Tottenham game in an aeroplane somewhere. Wherever they are, they are 4-9 to win the title tomorrow night. Now see what happens when Manchester City play Southampton here:
United started very very well, moved the ball very well, and it was very difficult for us to restart and make something good. After our goal I think we played better, and there were chances for them and us. I think the draw was the right result.
I was worried because we have very good heart, and I thought, OK, sooner or later we react. After their goal I thought, we have to react immediately, and fortunately at the first free kick we scored a goal.
Without Jamie away it’s more difficult for us, because we are used to playing the ball for Jamie, and the opponent is always scared of the ball for Jamie. It was difficult for us to play because they press very very well.
I saw Fellaini kick Huth, and it wasn’t a good show for him. When you play against big champions, always must be very concentrated, because they can invent. You can do everything right but they can invent something special.
For us, it was important to show our character, our mentality. The beginning wasn’t good, but after I very appreciate our performance. We suffer all the matches because we know what we are. We know every match we have to work hard.
I’d like to watch the match tomorrow, but I think I’m on a flight back from Italy so it’s difficult for me to watch the match. Maybe I’ll find out when I land. Look, for us it’s important to continue to dream, continue to work, and then if there will be the Tottenham victory, do you know, three matches ago I said, in my mind Tottenham will win all the matches.
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Here’s your match report. It’s a bit of a little, tokenistic match report at the moment, but Daniel Taylor’s full-on big ‘un will replace it any minute now:
Sky’s cameras caught a nice exchange between the managers at the final whistle. Ranieri says to Van Gaal: “You’re doing a fantastic job.” The Dutchman respons: “I am.”
Wes Morgan, the official man of the match, speaks to Sky:
It was very tough. Man U dominated possession today and we had to really dig in, be resilient and do a lot of defending today. But it’s a point, and a step in the right direction. It proved to be an important goal again. I don’t score many, so to score at Old Trafford, was a great feeling. I thought I had the better of my marker today, any ball that was near me I felt I could at least get a touch on it. Maybe I could have had a second but I don’t want to get too greedy. It’s not ours until we’ve got both hands on the trophy. We’ll be watching tomorrow night and hopefully it’ll be our day.
And so does Danny Simpson, who insists he shouldn’t have got sent off in that first-half incident involving Jesse Lingard, but admits he was a bit worried for a minute:
It’s Man Utd at the end of the day and it’s Old Trafford and we knew it was going to be tough. We dug deep, done what we done all season and showed our character. It would have been nice to win it here but it’s a good point. We’ll see what happens tomorrow and keep going.
Tomorrow I think we’ll try to get together as a team. We’ll see what the manager decides. We’ve still got two games left. We’re getting there.
@Simon_Burnton Feck the fairytale. This Leicester team are bland, oafish and negative. Is this what teams/players/kids should aspire to?
— Red&Grey Design (@redgrey) May 1, 2016
But were Chelsea not negative after January last season, as they crawled to the title with a succession of 1-0, 1-1 or 0-0 results? Leicester haven’t been at their best for weeks, and are Leicester, yet they’re still getting better results than anyone else. Only the most miserable of curmudgeons would criticise them, surely. And anyway, bland?
So, Tottenham must win every remaining game, and even then Leicester must win only one of theirs, or draw them both. United stand four points and a massively inferior goal difference from the top four, with three to play.
Final score: Manchester United 1-1 Leicester City
90+5 mins: It’s all over! Leicester have not won the league … yet!
90+4 mins: Ulloa is fouled by Blind, near the centre circle, and Leicester will surely see the game out now.
90+4 mins: United pass the ball around a bit, but when they work it into the area Simpson boots clear.
90+2 mins: A lovely ball from Herrera plays in Martial down the right. Fuchs tackles, but sends the ball rolling into his own area, with Mata rushing towards it! Schmeichel, though, streaks from his goal, and gets there first!
90+1 mins: There will be at least four minutes of time added on for stoppages. Can 10-man Leicester hold out … or better?
89 mins: I think that Depay should really have been told to get up there and stop whingeing, but it couldn’t possibly have been a free kick – it was a penalty or nothing at all.
89 mins: Rooney shoots, and Schmeichel punches clear!
88 mins: Mata and Rooney stand over the free-kick, just outside the area on the left …
88 mins: Mahrez goes off, and King comes on.
Red card for Drinkwater!
87 mins: Depay is played into the area. Drinkwater touches him on the shoulder a couple of times, and the Dutchman goes over. The referee, though, gives a free kick on the edge of the area, and a second yellow card for Drinkwater. That was very much more a touch than a pull-back, and would have been a horribly weak penalty.
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86 mins: The away side just can’t keep the ball. Drinkwater tries to find Mahrez, who knows he’s offside so lets the ball roll past him. Schmeichel the hits an unchallenged clearance straight out of play.
83 mins: Leicester dominated the first half-hour of this second half, but United have controlled the last five and nerves are all a-jangle.
82 mins: Rashford goes off, and Depay and his mysterious Instagram account come on.
81 mins: United attack, and Valencia’s cross from the right is perfect for Fellaini, who sadly is no longer on the pitch, and it flicks off the top of Mata’s head and wide.
80 mins: United cross from the left, but Mata’s touch takes it away from Rashford. Leicester break, Mahrez crosses and Ulloa chests down and volleys, badly, into the air.
78 mins: Chance for United! Smalling’s header clips the base of the post and goes wide!
78 mins: Not only did Leicester name the same starting XI as for their last game, they named the same substitutes, and have even made the same substitutions: Gray for Okazaki, Albrighton for Schlupp. We just need King to come on for Ulloa to complete the set.
77 mins: Now United attack. Martial zooms down the left and his low cross provokes a panicked leg-stick-out from a defender, but no own goal. Leicester bring Albrighton on for Schlupp.
76 mins: Leicester have been excellent this half, but haven’t quite converted this into chances. Ulloa has won a lot of headers, but not produced a memorable effort on target. Still, potential.
74 mins: Fellaini wins another cross, from Rojo on the left, but he used his hand to control it and somebody spotted it. Leicester have a free kick and that will be his last touch – Ander Herrera comes on to replace him.
72 mins: Gray beats Rojo on the right wing with humiliating ease, but when he gets to the byline he picks out Carrick rather than Mahrez.
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71 mins: Save! City break in numbers and find Mahrez, who cuts inside Rojo, cuts inside Carrick and cuts inside Blind, before shooting left-footed. De Gea pushes the ball clear.
70 mins: United get a corner, and once again Blind takes it and Fellaini wins it, but the header goes wide.
67 mins: Another booking, this time Rooney, for pulling down Mahrez. Okazaki, who a minute ago attempted a ludicrous over-the-shoulder volley from 20 yards that just hinted that it might have been heading to the top corner before smacking a defender in the face, goes off, with Demarai Gray coming on.
64 mins: Mahrez wins a free-kick on the right, Drinkwater sends it into the area and Ulloa heads a very smart chance – a third-chance, at best –wide.
63 mins: Fuchs heads away a left-wing cross by United, despite pressure from Fellaini. The suddenly whistle-happy referee gives Leicester a free-kick.
62 mins: Juan Mata is on, replacing Jesse Lingard.
61 mins: A manic minute on Leicester’s left, as the visitors miss several chances to clear, United steal the ball back, bustle their way into the area, and it all ends with Rooney shooting high from 20 yards.
58 mins: I don’t know what was in the referee’s half-time cup of tea, but he’s scribbling in his book again, Drinkwater getting a yellow card for a simultaneous slight pull on and slight kick at Rashford.
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57 mins: The second booking of the day, very much like the first, goes to a United player for bringing down Schlupp as Leicester tried to break. Carrick this time.
57 mins: Lingard has swapped flanks with Martial, and since moving to the left has had a decent right-foot shot saved.
55 mins: Another chance for Leicester! This time Schlupp gets down the left, with Okazaki to his right. A good cross would surely have brought a goal, but it’s too close to De Gea, who catches.
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54 mins: Ulloa’s shot from the edge of the area is deflected wide, and they have another corner. They win this one too, though Ulloa’s header would have gone wide had Martial, stationed on the far post, not booted clear.
53 mins: We have a yellow card, the first of the day, awarded to Lingard for taking out Schlupp. Leicester have started this second half extremely well.
51 mins: Chance! Simpson gets into the penalty area and tries to cross low to Okazaki, but the ball clips Carrick’s calves and runs out of play. Then Ulloa heads over from the corner, another decent chance.
50 mins: More from King Power HQ in Bangkok, where they’ve gone from peddling duty free food and alcohol to totally free food and alcohol.
@Simon_Burnton watching at King Power in Bangkok. Free food free booze amazing crowd. Wish I was paying 100 pounds for ticket
— StFual (@StFual) May 1, 2016
@Simon_Burnton pic.twitter.com/GGcGxQJXwA
— StFual (@StFual) May 1, 2016
48 mins: Martial finds space in the area, but his right-foot shot flies high.
47 mins: Leicester have the first half-chance of the second half, Morgan’s header from a corner being pushed away from goal by De Gea.
Peeeeeeeeep!
46 mins: Leicester get the second half under way, and immediately boot the ball out of play on the left flank.
The players are back out. Leicester have 45 minutes to win the title (well, to win it today). Can they?
A brilliant start from Manchester United, who absolutely owned the first quarter-hour, but Leicester have settled since and had chances. I feel the referee, for all that he’s kept himself out of the game wherever possible, could still be key – with Fellaini and Huth both on the pitch, every set piece is a penalty in waiting.
“I cannot understand what Marcos Rojo adds to this United team,” writes Dan Schulwolf. “He’s clearly not a bad player having started a World Cup and Copa America final for Argentina but he doesn’t do anything particularly well either. He commits too many fouls and his lack of commitment defending set pieces has been utterly shocking for someone of his size.” He’s having a poor game, and Mahrez can exploit the weakness – and nearly has already.
Half time: Manchester United 1-1 Leicester City
A wildly fast-paced and lavishly entertaining half comes to a conclusion, and it’s still anyone’s game.
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45+1 mins: There will be only one minute of first-half stoppage time, and it starts with Lingard crossing into Schmeichel’s midriff.
45 mins: Ulloa goes down twice in a minute, and doesn’t get so much as a second glance from the referee on either occasion. Michael Oliver’s doing well here, letting the game flow wherever possible.
43 mins: Another right-wing corner for United, but this time he doesn’t clear the defender on the near post. This first half has been relentlessly action-packed.
42 mins: On Sky Alan Smith says he thinks Mahrez should have had a penalty back in the 39th. I still think he deliberately ran into Rojo, rather than towards the ball, and that the referee made the right call.
40 mins: Leicester attack again, and Drinkwater’s shot is deflected wide. From the corner Morgan sends a completely free header – Rojo snoozing there – emphatically high.
39 mins: Save! And a penalty appeal! Schlupp’s cross from the left was on its way in until De Gea pushed it away; Mahrez seized upon it, jinked a few times, played the ball to right right of Rojo and then ran right into him. The referee is properly unimpressed.
38 mins: Mahrez, back on the right now, crosses left-footed towards Ulloa, who needed to just tickle the ball on its way towards the far post, but instead blootered it high and wide.
36 mins: Another Blind corner from the right, and this time Fellaini does win the header, but it’s a bit tame, and it bounces before Schmeichel catches.
34 mins: Fuchs arrives to challenge Lingard, long after the ball departed the scene. There’s very little contact, though, so he just about avoids a yellow card.
33 mins: While this game’s been in progress we’ve launched a news story about José Mourinho’s potential future employment in this very stadium.
31 mins: Now then! Simpson gives the ball away to Lingard on the halfway line and the two race after the loose ball, shoulder to shoulder, with the United player eventually falling moments before Schmeichel arrives to clear. The home fans scream for a red card, the referee waves play on!
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30 mins: Mahrez finds Schlupp on the edge of United’s area, but his first touch is poor and takes him wide, and his shot is blocked by Valencia.
Seen replay again. Yes, Huth pulling Fellaini's hair & holding him. Could feasibly have been a penalty. My point on Fellaini stands. Thug.
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKayTimes) May 1, 2016
28 mins: United continue to hog possession, winning another corner, from which they eventually have a cross headed clear, and play a through-ball out of play.
The future champions of the Greatest League in the World. pic.twitter.com/N3WLhGVFSa
— Neil Sherwin (@neilsherwin) May 1, 2016
26 mins: Leicester do some formational rejiggery – Schlupp has switches wings and is on the right, Mahrez moves to the middle, and Okazaki is shunted leftwards.
25 mins: The busiest elbows in football have been in action again.
Huth with the hair pull, Fellaini with the elbow and face hit. #MULC #MANLEC pic.twitter.com/zpDFZhEy85
— Andrew Jerell Jones (@sluggahjells) May 1, 2016
23 mins: Rooney’s shot hits the wall.
22 mins: Drinkwater and Huth go for the same bouncing ball, 20 yards out, and combine both to win it and flatten the only United player in the area. Free kick.
21 mins: United win a corner, taken by Blind. Fellaini escapes his marker and the ball is on its way onto his forehead, inside the six-yard box, until Ulloa got a faint flick just ahead of him.
19 mins: Smalling’s marking of Huth at that free-kick suggests there may be a few decent penalty claims today. Not so much shirt-pulling as attempted disrobement.
18 mins: Carrick crosses to Fellaini – beyond the far post again – but his knock-down is intercepted.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 Leicester City (Morgan, 17 mins)
An equaliser! Drinkwater takes a free kick, fairly central and about 40 yards out, and chips it into the penalty area. Morgan reaches it first, and heads across goal and in!
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16 mins: It’s telling that every United cross so far has been aimed beyond the far post, so evading Morgan and Huth, who are always stationed in front of goal, entirely. Leicester’s narrow defence is being found wanting.
14 mins: Save! A left-wing cross finds Fellaini beyond the far post, he chests it down and passes inside to Lingard, and his low drive is kept out by Schmeichel.
12 mins: A chance for Leicester! Mahrez has the ball on the right side of the area and pings a cross to Ulloa at the near post. The ball came to him fast, but he diverts it vaguely – but not quite enough – goalwards, missing by a couple of feet.
10 mins: Leicester win a free-kick in United’s half, from which Fuchs immediately hands possession back to the home side.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Leicester City (Martial, 8 mins)
Manchester United score, and it’s been coming! Valencia overlaps down the left, with Fuchs having to deal with both him and Lingard, and crosses with the outside of his right foot to Martial, beyond the far post, who shoots low and hard under Schmeichel!
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7 mins: Ulloa wins a free kick in his own half, from which Schmeichel immediately hands possession back to the home side.
5 mins: The first shot of the day flies off the right boot of Marcus Rashford, and straight into the flying Huth.
4 mins: Lingard angles a cross from the right towards, but over, Martial, who sets off in chase, slips over, gets up again and finally reaches it near the opposite edge of the pitch, whereupon he’s immediately given offside.
3 mins: Two minutes played, and United have had the ball for pretty much all of it. A ball across the edge of the area just induced surprising amounts of panic, given that it was weak and not really to anyone, but it was cleared in the end.
Peeeeeeeeep!
1 min: They’re off! United get us under way, and Huth’s already had to head away a cross.
I don’t know how any Leicester player can exist without their head exploding. Now they’ve got some football to concentrate on. Play imminent.
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The players are out, and Leicester’s fans have gone a bit Portsmouth on us:
Someone in the Leicester end has brought a bell. "Dilly ding and dilly dong!" is the chant.
— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) May 1, 2016
Five minutes to kick off. History beckons. Leicester have one hand on the trophy. Here’s a very rough mock-up of what we might soon see much more of.
On the subject of bookmakers, here’s some last-minute pre-match reading for you:
On a points-per-game basis United have the best home record in the Premier League, where they have scored 23, conceded 7 (so a goal difference of +16) and won 11 out of 17, to take 37 points. Leicester have the best away record in the Premier League, where they have scored 31, conceded 16 (so a goal difference of +15) and won 11 out of 17, to take 37 points.
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Louis van Gaal has spoken to Sky:
Undoubtedly, I think we have to win, and that is also a big pressure, because the last matches of Leicester City they don’t lose so much, and still we have to beat them. It’s not a question of [not wanting them to win the league at] our stadium, it’s a question that we want to qualify ourselves. But we are also strong at home, we have proven that this season again. So we have to beat them, and that’s our aim. Arsenal and West Ham put pressure on us [by winning] and that’s logical, and that’s why we have to beat – I say it for the third time I believe – Leicester City.
It is for sure that now we have less injuries, that I can choose more freely and I have more options. Every game is a different game and I look at what we need to beat Leicester City.
George Meikle emails on the subject of that blue-battered sausage, noting it bears a “very unpleasant resemblance to a deceased Smurf on Viking Smurf funeral pyre”.
“King Power have organised a big show for the game at their headquarters in Bangkok for several hundred supporters in blue shirts,” explains Oliver Holmes. “Everyone here is enjoying free prawns and beer in the 31C heat while they wait for the game, which will be played on a huge screen.”
Memphis Depay has done some strange social media stuff. He’s still following the main Manchester United Instagram account, but now has only one Instagram post to his name.
@Simon_Burnton according to bet365 (and I've verified) Depay has deleted his posts as a United player and unfollowed his teammates #fishy
— Freudian Blip (@FreudianBlip) May 1, 2016
DePIED-0ff. Hmmm Memphis Depay really has deleted all his Instagram pics of him as a Man Utd player & unfollowed his MUFC teammates.
— Hayley McQueen (@HayleyMcQueen) May 1, 2016
Claudio Ranieri has spoken to Sky. Business as usual, he says:
I’m awaiting a very, very good match today. I ask them just the same performance, what we are used to do. I don’t want to change our mind. Before the result, our performance is important. To show our strength. I’m very curious to see my players, if they feel something different. I hope no, but it’s important to check. The mood is OK, they enjoy, they are OK. But one thing what you show before a match, another thing what you show during the match. The story is fantastic. We achieved a lot, but not the big goal.
Oliver Holmes, the Guardian’s man in Bangkok, is outside the King Power HQ, where anticipation is building:
There’s a queue, an actual queue, to get into the O’Neill’s pub in Leicester and watch this game.
Queues building outside Leicester pubs. If it's one in, one out, not sure many people will want to come out pic.twitter.com/CShlQ80aoj
— Iain Macintosh (@iainmacintosh) May 1, 2016
Here, watch the Mahrez interview for yourself, and see if you agree with Sky’s definition of “amusing moment”.
WATCH: An amusing moment as Mahrez loses his cap. Him and Rooney preview today's game. Tune into SS1 NOW. https://t.co/mZG8ueXTnP
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 1, 2016
I’d just like to say that there can be no possible justification for this. None. I mean, we’re all excited about Leicester, but still. Not one:
A couple of not-enormously revelatory player interviews from Sky. Riyad Mahrez says this:
We need to perform today. The mood’s the same. We just have to focus on our team and we’ll see what we can do today.
Wayne Rooney says this:
We’re fighting to try and get in the top four. It’s a big game for us. We have to focus on ourselves and get the three points.
That’s one change for United from the team that beat Everton, Antonio Valencia coming in and Tim Fosu-Mensah dropping to the bench. Leicester keep faith with the team that walloped Swansea 4-0.
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and these were the names upon them:
Man Utd: De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Carrick, Fellaini, Lingard, Rooney, Martial, Rashford. Subs: Depay, Mata, Romero, Ander Herrera, Schneiderlin, Darmian, Fosu-Mensah.
Leicester: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Mahrez, Kanté, Drinkwater, Schlupp, Okazaki, Ulloa. Subs: King, Albrighton, Amartey, Gray, Wasilewski, Chilwell, Schwarzer.
Referee: Michael Oliver.
Say what you like about Claudio Ranieri, he’s got some excellent facial expressions. I’m not sure there’s a manager to touch him on the facial-expressions scale.
An update from Ladbrokes, who now have 22 punters still holding wagers at 5000-1 on Leicester to win the league, the largest with a £20 stake:
Two nervous Leicester City fans have cashed out 5000/1 title bets just hours before the decisive Manchester United match. The fans were both in line for £5000 from their £1 wagers placed at the start of the season, but took early settlements of £4381, cashing out via mobile app from a pub in Leicester city centre.
They have arrived.
Swansea are 2-0 up against Liverpool, Jack Cork having just scored the second.
William Hill took 25 bets on Leicester to win the league at 5000-1, the smallest of 5p, placed by a female customer in Edinburgh, and the largest of £20, which will net a customer from Manchester £100,000 if the title heads to the King Power Stadium. They will pay out £3m if Leicester win the league, and estimate the industry-wide loss at £10m (though presumably more than that was waged on Chelsea, Arsenal or the Manchester clubs, and they’ll probably be OK).
The Premier League has been won at Old Trafford on four occasions, three times by Manchester United (who have also won the title 10 times at other venues, or as a result of other teams’ results) and once, in 2002, by Arsenal.
While we’re reading about teams that aren’t Leicester – and there’ll be time for reading about them – this is a wonderful and evocative piece of writing.
In case you’re wondering, there’ll be no trophy presentations this afternoon: Leicester will be handed the Premier League pot at the end of their one remaining home game, against Everton next week, if they’ve wrapped it up by then.
Hello world!
And so, the time has come. Leicester could be league champions today. All they must do is beat a team to whom they have been obviously and demonstrably superior for the entire season. And what better way to get the day started than with a little reading about … Ipswich!
Alf Ramsey’s success with Ipswich, who won the league on this weekend in 1962 when their only remaining opponents failed to beat Chelsea, and having been promoted the previous season, is pretty much the only modern achievement to bear comparison to this Leicester side (Preston also won the First Division title at the first attempt, though that was in 1889). Some bits of this article could be copy-and-pasted straight into an analysis of the Foxes’ success this year, starting with the intro:
In the long drawn out battle of the First Division it was Ipswich who gave a special character to the season. To the end they remained a fascinating enigma with no one outside Suffolk quite able to believe in or explain their persistent success.
Or, for that matter:
When Ipswich, with their players on £25 per week could, by their greater team spirit and enthusiasm, defeat the sides full of stars paid three or four times as much, who could maintain that higher pay had made better players? But though Ipswich have had their fun this season they surely cannot undermine the natural order of things for ever. Or can they?
Anyway, read, enjoy, sit down and get ready for what could prove a historic few hours …
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