The 2018-19 English Premier League season begins on Friday evening, as Manchester United will host Leicester City at Old Trafford.
United come into the season as one of the few teams that could throw a wrench in Manchester City’s title plans, while Leicester will be hoping to recapture the magic that helped the club come out of nowhere to win the 2015-16 EPL championship.
World Cup Offseason Crunch
If it feels like there hasn’t been much of an offseason since Manchester City won the league, you’re not imagining things. While the final matches of the previous EPL campaign were played back on May 13, the World Cup meant there wasn’t much of a layoff for football fans or clubs.
That has also meant that players who traveled to Russia for their countries have had little time to prepare for the upcoming season. That’s a reality that is hitting Manchester United particularly hard, as manager Jose Mourinho still isn’t entirely sure just how available many of his players who served international duty this summer will be on opening night.
Question marks for United include Victor Lindelof of Sweden, England’s Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones, and France’s Paul Pogba.
Of those, Rashford appears to be the most likely to start on Friday, as he did play over an hour in a friendly loss to Bayern Munich last week. Ashley Young, Romelu Lukaku, and Marouane Fellaini could also potentially make their way back onto the squad in time for the match against Leicester.
Mourinho addressed the progress of some of his returning international stars in an interview with MUTV on Tuesday.
“Lindelof the same, Jones the same and let’s see if one of the others is ready to give us a help, 20-25 minutes,” Mourinho said. “Any help that can come from them is welcome.”
Maguire Could Still Swap Sides
Both Leicester City and Manchester United are still active in the transfer market before the window closes on Thursday evening. In fact, it’s possible that a player could move between the sides before they hit the field to play each other on Friday.
Media reports suggest that Leicester is ready to sell defender Harry Maguire to Manchester United if the two sides can agree on a fee. ESPN reported that sources say United is still considering signing several defenders, including Maguire, Toby Alderweireld, and Jerome Boateng, but are hoping that clubs will reduce their demands before the transfer window closes.
According to Metro, Leicester is valuing Maguire at £75 million ($96.7 million), a price United have been unwilling to accept so far. In the meantime, Leicester have agreed to transfers that will bring two new center backs into their squad: Caglar Soyuncu from Frieburg, and Filip Benkovic from Dynamo Zagreb.
According to William Hill, United enter the match as a 1/2 favorite, while Leicester is 6/1 to pull an upset away from home to start their campaign and bettors can get 29/10 on a drawn match.
When it comes to their prospects this season, United is widely viewed as the third choice to win the Premier League. At 7/1, they trail only consensus favorite Manchester City (4/6) and second choice Liverpool (4/1) in futures betting. Meanwhile, Leicester City (300/1) is expected to finish squarely in the middle of the table, far from both the EPL title and relegation races.