Manchester United faced a visit from champions Leicester City to Old Trafford on Saturday and duly blew them away with a fantastic performance. 

United controversially started with captain Wayne Rooney on the bench and the initial signs were positive as the Red Devils dictated the play early on. The Foxes soon began to grow into the game, however, as they looked to string passes together before hitting on the break.

The first real chance of the game came the way of Leicester after 18-minutes as they worked a short corner before having a succession of chances, concluded by a Wes Morgan effort which soared over the bar.

Chris Smalling powered United in front in the 22nd minute as he leapt highest to bury a header following a corner. United then had a chance on the counter barely 3-minutes later as Zlatan Ibrahimovic did well to play in Marcus Rashford, who made a hash of his shot.

Paul Pogba played in Ibrahimovic with a superb dinked ball in the 27th minute and the Swede came close to scoring in spectacular style as he turned and volleyed just over.

With Leicester struggling to cope with United’s passing and movement, the Red Devils added a second after 36-minutes as Juan Mata fired home after neat interplay by the Red Devils on the edge of the Foxes’ area.

Rashford then added his side’s third of a devastating spell before the interval as he fired into an empty net after a clever quick corner before Pogba headed home United’s fourth off yet another corner.

The second-half got off to a leisurely start before United began to find their groove as the likes of Ibrahimovic and Mata began probing. Leicester then pulled a goal back as Demarai Gray struck with a stunning effort from range on the hour mark.

Ibrahimovic had his precise effort well save after 65 minutes before Andy King failed to make the most of a great chance for Leicester a few minutes later. The game then steadily began to wind down as United lost their fluency while Leicester struggled to penetrate.

Gray had another fine strike well saved by David de Gea in the United goal but there were no further clear-cut chances in the remaining minutes of the game.

At full-time the score remained 4-1 to Manchester United.

Photo: Premier League Website