Following a draw against Burnley, Manchester United got back to winning ways after churning out a narrow 1-0 win over Leicester City earlier today.
Here are three takeaways from this tightly contested encounter at the King Power Stadium this afternoon.
Sanchez misfires once again
Following the departure of Jose Mourinho, it seemed as if Alexis Sanchez is destined to succeed under interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But, in what was his first league start under the Norwegian, Sanchez failed to make an impact against a disciplined Leicester City defence.
The former Arsenal star struggled to get past Ricardo Pereira and lacked the creativity. Sanchez was also dispossessed twice, and the dynamism that he often brings into the table was certainly missing.
Although the Chilean did show glimpses of his brilliance at times it was overall a disappointing display. He was rightly subbed off seven minutes after the hour-mark as he made way for Anthony Martial.
Is Pogba a reliable creative outlet in midfield over 90 minutes?
Paul Pogba had an excellent start to the game, threading in numerous passes into the final third, including the one which set up Marcos Rashford for the opener.
However, the Frenchman looked sloppy afterwards, often misplacing his passes and also looked casual on the ball, which allowed the Leicester midfielders to reduce his time on the ball.
This raises doubt over his reliability of acting as the lone creative outlet going forward and if we consider his stop-start performance earlier this afternoon, it’s probably fair to say that United are better off deploying a supporting creative midfielder alongside the Frenchman.
Leicester resilient, but not enough
Leicester City are often regarded as the “best of the rest” club in the Premier League and they have certainly lived up to that billing under the leadership of Claude Puel.
The Frenchman has been able to transform the Foxes into a well-disciplined and resilient defensive side, who have often performed well big teams and this afternoon was no exception.
The defensive duo of Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans did really well to prevent the United attackers from dominating the final third while their fullbacks in Ben Chilwell and Ricardo Pereira played a key role in restricting the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Jesse Lingard.
As a result, the Red Devils struggled to make any inroads into the 18-yard box and test goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel throughout the course of the game.
However, the Foxes do need to become more consistent if they are to challenge the sides above them in the league table.
Stat courtesy: Whoscored
