Leicester pile pressure on Solskjaer as Man Utd collapse

Leicester piled pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with a late goal spree in their thrilling 4-2 victory against troubled Manchester United on Saturday.

Solskjaer will face renewed scrutiny after United’s collapse at the King Power Stadium left them without a win in their last three Premier League games.

The United manager saw Mason Greenwood open the scoring early on, only for Leicester’s Youri Tielemans to equalise before half-time.

Caglar Soyuncu put Leicester in front in the closing stages before Marcus Rashford marked his first appearance this season after shoulder surgery with United’s leveller.

In a dramatic denouement, Leicester ended United’s English league record 29-game unbeaten run away from home with goals from Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka in the last seven minutes.

It was a bitter blow for Solskjaer, who had already endured criticism after United were beaten by Aston Villa and held by Everton in their final games before the recent international break.

While Solskjaer may not be in immediate danger of the sack, the Norwegian must emerge with some notable victories from a testing period featuring matches against Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester City and Atalanta twice in the Champions League.

Cristiano Ronaldo started after Solskjaer controversially left him on the bench for the first 57 minutes against Everton, but the Portugal star was held in check.

Spluttering United have won only one of their last five games in all competitions.

Adding to United’s woes, the club were forced to defend their decision to fly the 100-mile journey to Leicester.

Claiming their travel plans changed due to “circumstances” amid reports of motorway traffic congestion, United were accused of disregarding climate change issues.

United played as though they were hampered by the jet-lag associated with much longer flights throughout a wretched display.

Ashen-faced Solskjaer

Greenwood put United ahead in the 19th minute when he cut in from the right and played a one-two with a Bruno Fernandes before smashing an unstoppable 20-yard strike into the top corner.

It was the 20-year-old’s first goal since August and his fourth of the season.

Ronaldo’s strike was fisted away by Kasper Schmeichel, but Leicester were level in the 31st minute as Tielemans matched Greenwood’s moment of magic.

Harry Maguire, rusty on his return from a two-match calf injury lay-off, sloppily surrendered possession to Kelechi Iheanacho as he tried to play out from the back.

Iheanacho found Tielemans and the Belgium midfielder clipped a sublime lofted finish over David De Gea for his second goal this season.

Leicester had the upper hand and Iheanacho shot wide late in the first half before testing De Gea soon after the interval.

United were struggling to find their rhythm and although Nemanja Matic lashed narrowly wide with a long-range blast, it wasn’t long before Solskjaer took off the anonymous Jadon Sancho.

There was little improvement in United’s performance and De Gea had to make a good save to turn Tielemans’ shot onto the woodwork.

De Gea plunged to his left to deny Daka, but Leicester’s pressure paid off in the 78th minute.

Daka’s shot was saved by De Gea and when the ball deflected off Ayoze Perez, Soyuncu was on hand to fire home from close-range.

Solskjaer must have felt a wave of relief when Rashford ran onto Victor Lindelof’s ball over the top and smashed past Schmeichel in the 82nd minute.

But, less than 60 seconds later, Solskjaer’s face was ashen again as Perez’s pass found Vardy and the striker slotted into the corner with the outside of his boot.

Zambian striker Daka added to Solskjaer’s misery in stoppage-time when he tapped in Tielemans’ free-kick for his first Leicester goal.