TEAM NEWS
Antonio Valencia, Marcos Rojo, Diogo Dalot, Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic are all injured, while Jose Mourinho will check on the fitness of those who returned late from the World Cup.
Summer signing Fred is expected to make his Manchester United debut on Friday but several other players are missing.
Leicester manager Claude Puel must similarly decide whether to include Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire.
New signings Jonny Evans and James Maddison are available after injuries. Demarai Gray is also fit, while Ricardo Pereira and Rachid Ghezzal could be involved.
MOTD COMMENTATOR’S NOTES
Martin Fisher: Jose Mourinho rarely smiled last season and his expression hasn’t changed after a summer of frustration.
Several transfer targets were identified but failed to materialise and it seems the United boss doesn’t fancy his chances of closing the considerable gap between champions City with the pool of players left at Old Trafford.
Leicester have finally cashed in on Riyad Mahrez but they’ve shown characteristic resolve to rebuff United’s interest in Harry Maguire.
The England World Cup hero only returned to training on Monday but is still in line to start. Jamie Vardy is less likely, as Kelechi Iheanacho has been scoring goals aplenty in pre-season.
VIEW FROM THE DUGOUT
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho: “Now it’s serious stuff. It’s not anymore about friendlies, it’s not anymore about preparation, it’s about points.
“Any point can be crucial – you don’t know what is going to happen at the end of the season. You have to try your best to get points and even with the difficulties that we had with our pre-season, now I don’t think is the time to be speaking about that.
“It’s time just to say ‘tomorrow we have a Premier League match’ and we have to play to win it.”
Leicester manager Claude Puel: “We lost Riyad Mahrez, who was a very valuable player for us, so it was important to keep our best players and have good additions to the squad.
“We have to prepare for this season with good possibilities.”
LAWRO’S PREDICTION
The atmosphere at Old Trafford will be interesting because Manchester United have not had the greatest pre-season.
But does that matter if you win your first game? I would suggest not, and I do think United will start with a victory.
Leicester lost five of their last seven games last season and the first few weeks of this campaign are going to be crucial for their manager Claude Puel because, if they start poorly, he will be under pressure again.
Prediction: 1-0
Source: BBC News
