Next Saturday, 31st of January 2014, the highly volatile Manchester United will entertain a relegation threatened Leicester at Old Trafford for round 23 of the English Premier League, on a match that, for completely different reasons, both teams desperately need to win.

After defeating QPR at Loftus Road for the previous round of EPL, Manchester United returned to the usual inconsistency when they travelled to Cambridgeshire to face the modest League Two side of Cambridge United. The Red Devils failed to secure anything better than a draw from their visit to Abbey Stadium and they will now be forced to play a 2nd leg FA Cup match at Old Trafford next week.

After a spectacular and at the same time promising pre-season, Louis Van Gaal’s boys are yet to prove a point in the current campaign. The inconsistency of their performances is probably their biggest flaw and something that the Dutch manager needs to be extra careful about. Before the team’s win against QPR, United went through a terrible period of three league matches without a single win. The two consecutive draws against Stoke City and Tottenham and the home defeat at the hands of Southampton were a huge blow to the team’s morale and, from that period onwards, United’s performances have been fairly unsatisfactory.

The upcoming fixture against Leicester will probably not be a very complicated one for Manchester United, but if we have in mind what happened at the King Power Stadium back in September, when the Red Devils lost 5-3 to a mighty Foxes’ team, we are forced to believe that anything can happen. For that particular match, United’s Dutch manager will probably still not be able to rely on the services of Ashley Young, Evans, Thorpe and Smalling, all currently sidelined due to injury.

As for Leicester, the Foxes haven’t been having an easy life this season, which marked their return to the English football top tier. Leicester are currently at the bottom of the table with just 17 points from 22 matches and, although they have already produced some quality performances and results so far this season, they have failed to display the necessary consistency.

On the previous league round, the Foxes suffered a painful home defeat against Stoke, thus failing to reach both QPR and Hull, their closest relegation threatened contestants, on the EPL table.

Although one cannot forget what happened when both sides measured forces back in September, it is fair to point out Manchester United as firm favourites to win the upcoming match.

Manchester United

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - DWLWD

Leicester

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - WLWWD

Possible Line-ups

Manchester United (3-5-2) – De Gea - Jones -  Blind - Rojo - Shaw - Carrick - Di Maria - Mata Valencia - Rooney - Van Persie

Leicester (4-4-2) - Schwarzer - Konchesky - Simpson - Morgan - Moore - Schlupp - Cambiasso - King - Drinkwater - Kramaric - Ulloa

Prediction

Manchester United 2 Leicester 1