Leicester throw eggs into European basket, Man United dominate
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It’s a sign of how well Leicester City have done under Craig Shakespeare in the last five games, as the Foxes were able to rest some key players for today’s game against Everton.
On taking over from Claudio Ranieri, the reigning Premier League champions were just two points above the relegation zone in the Premier League and looked to be heading for the drop.
But five straight wins have eased the pressure on the East Midlands outfit’s shoulders. And although they may be safe this season, they still faced a 4-2 hammering this afternoon at Goodison Park.
Danny Simpson found himself on the bench for today’s game along with Riyad Mahrez, while Christian Fuchs and Wilfred Ndidi were rested. With 30 still to go in the game, and Leicester chasing two goals, Shakespeare also decided to bring off top scorer Jamie Vardy.
It’s clear where his priorities lie, then…
The Foxes will travel to Atletico Madrid this week for the first leg of their Champions League quarter final clash with last year’s finalists, and 11/1 says they return to England protecting a lead.
Don’t be fooled by that price though. As we’ve seen so often over the past few years, this is a position Leicester just love being in.
Wednesday night’s hosts were forced to play a strong side this weekend as they travelled to local rivals Real Madrid. And that’ll give the visitors a slight physical advantage heading into the midweek clash – especially given that every player came through this afternoon’s match against the Toffees unscathed.
Elsewhere today, Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United side breezed past a relegation-doomed Sunderland side 3-0 at the Stadium of Light.
The Red Devils took the lead through a Zlatan Ibrahimovic opener, the eighth time they’ve done that this season, and the Black Cats never looked like getting back into things after Sebastian Larsson saw red after just 43 minutes.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford added to the scoreline in the second-half, and those three points saw United edge even closer to a top four spot. They’re now just four points away from their local rivals Manchester City in fourth with a game in hand over Pep Guardiiola’s men.
They’re still 7/2 to find themselves in the leading quartet of the table though come the end of the season, but plenty of optimistic supporters will be lumping on their side at odds those long.
As for Sunderland, they’re now as short as 1/200 to go down, and they’ll have it all to do over the coming weeks if they’re to defy those odds.
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All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
