The final Premier League match of this week sees defending Premier League champions Leicester City take on Jose Mourinho's Manchester United at the King Power stadium. It's a must win match for both teams as a loss could put Leicester City in a relegation battle while Manchester United risk a Champions League spot.
Also read: Premier League results
Leicester City are currently in 16th position in the league table with 21 points, just one point off the bottom three. They really need to start picking up points or risk getting into a relegation battle.
Claudio Ranieri's team is facing a less-confident United side that drew their last three matches in the Premier League.
Leonardo Ulloa, who said he will never play for the club alleging Claudio Ranieri betrayed him, is not fit for the match with a rumoured thigh injury. Islam Slimani, who returned from the AFCON, will miss the match owing to a groin problem. New signing Molla Wague might make his debut.
Meanwhile, Claudio Ranieri has urged his players to fight for the club's survival.
"They [the players] have to fight for Leicester, not for me. Everybody is fighting, we lost in the 87th minute [at Burnley] and you know how we lost but we fight until the end. The pressure is split to everybody. All my players want to win. Then the pressure is on the manager, always, but it's not my first year as a manager."
"I don't believe that they don't believe in me. If they don't believe in me, they have to do only one thing, and that is go to the chairman and tell them they don't believe, please change. But I feel we are together. And the same from the owners, he supports" Sky Sports quoted the Leicester manager as saying.
Manchester United are going through a tough spell as well. Despite being unbeaten in their last 14 matches in the Premier league, they have drawn their last three matches and now risk losing a spot in the top four. If United fail to make it to the Champions League, it will be read as a big failure.
Phil Jones might miss this match after he limped out of Manchester United's 0-0 draw against Hull City. Eric Bailly is expected to take his place in the United defense. Dean Henderson has been recalled from his loan with Grimsby Town after Joel Pereira was ruled out for the rest of the season due to a ligament injury.
Jose Mourinho admitted in a recent press conference that United have failed to capitalise on the goal scoring chances. He also heaped praise on Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
"I have to agree with you that we don't score enough goals. Some of our players from these attacking creative positions they could –they should – score more goals. I understand what you are saying. We attack so much and with so many players, and so many players have the freedom in our dynamic to reach scoring positions. When you see the number of goals we score, there is not a true relation between our attacking production and the number of payers we put in attacking positions and the number of goals we score."
"When you speak about Zlatan's goals you should always add 14 goals and one penalty in 31 matches played in England in all competitions. You should always add that extra item. In almost every team the striker is the top scorer, I think so, unless you have another player with a special feeling to score goals coming from another position or you have another player scoring six seven or eight goals from penalties, that is normal to happen" The Daily Mail quoted the United manager as saying.
Where to watch
The Premier League match between Leicester City and Manchester United is set to start at 4:00pm GMT (9:30pm IST, 11:00am EST)
TV and Live streaming information
India: TV: Star Sports Select HD1. Live Streaming:Hotstar
UK: TV: Sky Sports 1/HD. Live Streaming: Sky Go
USA: TV: NBCSN. Live Streaming: NBC Sports Live.
Australia: TV: Optus Sport. Live Streaming: Optus Sport Online.
Africa: TV: SuperSport 3 Africa. Live Streaming: SuperSport live video.
International Live Streaming: MUTV (Subscription needed)
