James and Levitt in action for Red Devils

Daniel James skips past Leicester's Ricardo Pereira

(Photo: Getty Images)

Daniel James' Old Trafford scoring run came to an end on Saturday, as Manchester United got back to winning ways at home to Leicester City. The Welsh winger played almost the entire game, before making way for defender Axel Tuanzebe in injury time.

Fresh from scoring the winner in Wales' friendly against Belarus the previous Monday, James started brightly against Leicester. Cutting inside with one of his trademark runs off the left flank, Ricardo was unable to deal with the 21-year-old, giving away an early free kick on the edge of the penalty area; Andreas Pereira's ensuing effort was well saved by Kasper Schmeichel.


The same tactic saw James break free of Ricardo early in the second half, allowing him to get a shot away from 20 yards, only to see it go marginally over the crossbar. If James had scored, he would have become the first player to score in the first three home games of his Manchester United career since manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær managed the feat 23 years earlier.

James was booked late in the game for a foul on James Maddison. It was his third booking for Manchester United, having twice been cautioned for simulation earlier in the season.

Marcus Rashford's eighth-minute penalty proved the difference between the two sides on the day, though the English forward almost doubled the advantage with a late free kick that hit the angle of post and crossbar. The win – United's first since the opening day – moved them to eight points and back into the top four, but only on goal difference ahead of Leicester, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Position	Team	Pld	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	5	+11	15
2	Man. City	5	+10	10
3	Tottenham	5	+5	8
4	UNITED	5	+4	8
5	Leicester	5	+2	8
6	Chelsea	5	0	8
7	Arsenal	5	0	8

Meanwhile, in Under-23s action on Friday night, midfielder Dylan Levitt scored the only goal of a 1-0 win over Fulham at Leigh Sports Village. After making the bench for Wales' win over Belarus, the 18-year-old started against Fulham, although he had to wait until the 85th minute to get his goal.

After winning the ball back in midfield, Levitt strode forward before playing the ball out wide to Largie Ramazani on the right wing. The Belgian winger has been in fine scoring form recently, with four goals in his last five games for the under-23s, and made his way into the penalty area with some fine dribbling before cutting it back for Levitt to slot home from six yards. It was Levitt's second goal of the season, having also scored from the penalty spot in the 5-0 opening-day win away to West Brom.

Here it is — our #MUAcademy U23s' late winner 👍

Dylan Levitt's tidy finish ensures we maintain our strong start to the #PL2 campaign!

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 13, 2019

Finally, the under-18s also played on Saturday, losing 5-1 to Derby County. The only Welsh involvement was from first-year scholar Iestyn Hughes, who made his first appearance of the season, coming off the bench to replace goalscorer Mark Helm with 13 minutes to go.