Match briefing
KEY MOMENT
Morgan and Evans
combine to upend
Martial in the box after
Hamza Choudhury is
dispossessed.
Fernandes slots home
the penalty.71
2 2GG Monday July 27 2020 | the times
thegame Race for Europe
Solskjaer, United are playing with
width again, with more pace, with an
attacking edge. He has dealt adeptly
with all the heat and headlines
around Paul Pogba and David De
Gea.
So this meant everything,
strengthening his position, making
United a more attractive proposition
to potential signings such as Jadon
Sancho and also showing the board
why he can be trusted with funds.
With Chelsea scoring twice in the
first half against Wolves, this game
effectively became a play-off for the
Champions League. Leicester knew
the odds were against them, trailing
in fifth place anyway, and especiallyOle Gunnar Solskjaer sat ten rows
behind the dugout, legs crossed, the
picture of composure, smartly suited,
and studiously surveying his team,
but the nerves must have been
hammering away inside. His assistant,
Kieran McKenna, occasionally
climbed the steps to take instructions,
hurrying back to the technical area
to pass on the manager’s words to
the team.
Solskjaer did descend to the
dugout sporadically, celebrating with
clenched fists when Bruno Fernandes
converted his penalty and walking
down, before returning to his eyrie.
Being United manager must be a
lonely place at times. Deep into
stoppage time, a period forever
associated with Solskjaer during his
glittering playing days at United, the
Norwegian headed down again to the
dugout, directing operations in
person, and celebrating with his
backroom staff when Jesse Lingard
made it 2-0. He raised both hands to
the skies, patted McKenna and
Michael Carrick on the back. It was
restrained, but he must have been
dancing inside.
Even when the final whistle duly
followed, Solskjaer remained
dignified, going to Brendan Rodgers,
his staff and players, consoling them.
Craved qualification for the
Champions League was United’s —
an outcome that demonstrated
beyond doubt that United are heading
in the right direction under Solskjaer,
back to the European elite, and that
he is absolutely the right man to
manage Manchester United.
Returning to the Champions
League looked a distant possibility on
a dismal night when they lost 2-0 to
Burnley at Old Trafford on January- As Solskjaer and his team were
jeered off by some of the United fans
who had remained to the bitter end,
they were six points off Chelsea in
fourth and 14 points off third-placed
Leicester. Rio Ferdinand, the former
United defender, called the
performance “an embarrassment”.
Phone-ins and studio discussions
were filled with spiky chatter about
Solskjaer’s future.
But Solskjaer stayed calm, stayed
committed to the plan that involved
restoring United’s attacking edge after
the more cautious period under David
Moyes, Louis van Gaal and José
Mourinho. Confidence returned,
helped by Fernandes settling in so
smoothly and productively after his
£47 m move from Sporting Lisbon. He
has scored eight times in 14 Premier
League games and, fittingly, it was his
typically expert penalty that
confirmed United’s progress to the
Champions League. The Portuguese
has brought goals, assists and belief.
Solskjaer’s captain, Harry Maguire,
spoke afterwards of the tireless work
they had done at Carrington.
Solskjaer and his staff deserve huge
credit for organising them, for
assimilating Fernandes so swiftly, for
bringing the best out of Anthony
Martial, who was outstanding in his
runs behind Leicester’s defence, and
giving youngsters such as Mason
Greenwood a chance. Under
HENRY
WINTER
Chief Football Writer
At King Power Stadium
with James Maddison, Ben Chilwell,
Caglar Söyüncü and Ricardo Pereira
all absent, damaging their defence
and depriving them of some central
creativity and crosses. Rodgers rallied
his players, calling on them to deliver
a “result that will be heard around the
world”, but Fernandes’s penalty spoke
loudest.
Leicester had wanted to be in the
Champions League, but United really
needed to qualify. They all knew the
high stakes, and the lucrative allure of
Europe’s premier club competition.
The noise emanating from a
sizeable Leicester gathering socially
distanced in the directors’ box
signalled their desire, although news
of goals from Mason Mount and
Olivier Giroud for Chelsea made
them realise even more the scale of
the challenge. Leicester knew they
would have to beat United.
Rodgers’s side had begun by far the
brighter and more assertive, looking
comfortable with their game-plan of
pressing United’s defence, harrying
Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof,and looking to smother the visitors’
attack with a five-man defence.
But there were increasing flashes of
the quality that has underpinned
United’s revival under Solskjaer. They
were in a 4-2-1-3 formation with
Fernandes trying to release the front
three of Marcus Rashford, Martial
and Greenwood. Midway through the
opening half, Greenwood
demonstrated all his silk of touch,
instantly controlling Fernandes’s 50-
yard diagonal ball. Pogba then
delivered, James Justin erred, and
Rashford had a glimpse of goal. The
England striker took a touch but,
slightly off-balance, shot over.
United menaced more. Martial
began running into the small space
between and behind Leicester’s
defenders. The Frenchman suddenly
appeared in the left-hand corridor but
his shot deflected wide off Justin.
When Leicester were truly opened up,
moments before half-time, Kasper
Schmeichel exhibited all his sharp
reactions to push away Rashford’s
fierce strike.Evans sees red for a
late challenge on Scott
McTominay in
stoppage time, before
Jesse Lingard
dispossesses
Schmeichel to tap into
an empty net.Manchester United
have the ball in the net
after Paul Pogba
finds Bruno Fernandes,
but there’s a flag for
offside, and the
decision is confirmed
by VAR.33 mins 90
BRUNO’S IMPACT
No player has been involved in more
Premier League goals than Bruno
Fernandes since his debut on Feb 1Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd)Anthony Martial (Man Utd)Michail Antonio (West Ham)Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)Goals8 79 39 27 48 2Assists1512111110Stat of the season
39
Jesse Lingard ended
a run of 39 league
games without a
goal or an assist46% 54%
POSSESSION33
SHOTS ON TARGET12 11
FOULSP W D L GD Pts
1 Liverpool (C) 38 32 3 3 52 99
2 Man City 38 26 3 9 67 81
3 Man United 38 18 12 8 30 66
4 Chelsea 38 20 6 12 15 66
5 Leicester 38 18 8 12 26 62
6 Tottenham 38 16 11 11 14 59
7 Wolves 38 15 14 9 11 59
8 Arsenal 38 14 14 10 8 56
9 Sheff Utd 38 14 12 12 0 54
10 Burnley 38 15 9 14 -7 54
11 S’hampton 38 15 7 16 -9 52
12 Everton 38 13 10 15 -12 49
13 Newcastle 38 11 11 16 -20 44
14 C Palace 38 11 10 17 -19 43
15 Brighton 38 9 14 15 -15 41
16 West Ham 38 10 9 19 -13 39
17 Aston Villa 38 9 8 21 -26 35
18 B’mouth (R) 38 9 7 22 -25 34
19 Watford (R) 38 8 10 20 -28 34
20 Norwich (R) 38 5 6 27 -49 2102
Fernandes 71 (pen)
Lingard 90+8 RATINGS
Leicester City (3-5-2): K Schmeichel 5 — J Justin 7,
W Morgan 5, J Evans 5 — M Albrighton 6 (D Gray
73min), H Choudhury 5 (D Praet 73), W Ndidi 6,
Y Tielemans 6 (H Barnes 73), L Thomas 6 (G Hirst
88) — K Iheanacho 6 (A Pérez 58, 6), J Vardy 7.
Booked Evans, Vardy. Sent off Evans.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): D De Gea 7 —
A Wan-Bissaka 6, V Lindelof 7, H Maguire 7,
B Williams 7 — P Pogba 8, N Matic 7 —
M Greenwood 6 (J Lingard 77), B Fernandes 8
(S McTominay 86), M Rashford 6 (T Fosu-Mensah
90+7) — A Martial 6 (O Ighalo 90+7). Booked
Maguire, Lindelof, Williams, Pogba.
Referee M Atkinson.Leicester
CityManchester
UnitedUnited’s faith
in Solskjaer
rewarded with
return to elite
Champions Liverpool
Champions League
Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea
Europa League
Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur
Relegated
Bournemouth, Watford, Norwich