Marcus Rashford is set to keep his place for United while Leicester will lose Kasper Schmeichel to a muscle strain.
Billed as a clash between managers rather than teams, Claudio Ranieri insists there remains no ill feeling towards Jose Mourinho despite the latter’s scathing comments about his managerial ability.
Although those barbs were more than a few years ago, Ranieri will still feel aggrieved by Mourinho’s words calling him a “loser” and having “the mentality of someone who doesn’t need to win”, and takes his Leicester City side to Old Trafford knowing a win would put one over on the man who took his job at Chelsea.
Manchester United, on the other hand, are in uncharted territory, with the possibility of back-to-back home defeats against another title challenger and Mourinho losing three league games in a row for only the second time in his career.
A difficult victory in the EFL Cup against Northampton sparked an angry retort from Mourinho at the “footballing Einsteins” of the world, suggesting that the Portuguese is starting to feel the pressure ahead of the champions’ visit.
United face a dilemma in team selection with Marcus Rashford once again among the goals in midweek. No Red Devil has contributed more goals since his debut than the 18-year-old, and with Anthony Martial facing a fitness test with a head injury he could replace the Frenchman out wide.
Luke Shaw, heavily criticised by Mourinho in their last Premier League outing at Watford, could miss out through a groin strain while Henrikh Mkhitaryan is once again unlikely to start.
Michael Carrick put in a man-of-the-match performance against Northampton and could have played his way into first-team contention while Wayne Rooney is expected to start despite criticism over his performances this season.
For the visitors, Kasper Schmeichel is a doubt with a muscle strain so Ron-Robert Zieler will keep his place in goal after starting in Leicester’s 4-2 defeat to Chelsea in the EFL Cup, while Marcin Wasilewski is suspended after being sent off in the same game.
The Foxes have not won at Old Trafford for 18 years with just one win in the last 16 competitive meetings with United, courtesy of their barmy 5-3 win at the King Power Stadium in 2014.
But Ranieri has not lost any of his last four meetings against Jose Mourinho and Jamie Vardy has scored in three of his four games against United, so don’t rule out a Leicester upset come Saturday.
Predicted Manchester United lineup
Predicted Leicester City line up
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