Man United vs Leicester City predicted as Ruud van Nistelrooy gets perfect start

Ruud van Nistelrooy takes charge of his first Manchester United game as head coach later today when United welcome Leicester City to Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup.

After an extremely poor start to the season, Erik ten Hag was sacked as Manchester United manager, leaving assistant manager Van Nistelrooy to take charge as interim head coach while the search for a permanent manager gets under way. Van Nistelrooy's first test comes against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup, where victory would secure a spot in the competition's quarter-finals.

United won 7-0 against Barnsley last time out in the Carabao Cup – one of United's four wins across all competitions this season. With a tough clash against Chelsea on the weekend, Van Nistelrooy may be tempted to rotate his squad, though Noussair Mazraoui could be touch-and-go after coming off injured in the 2-1 loss to West Ham on the weekend.

So, can Van Nistelrooy kick off his tenure as United boss with a win? Let's take a look.

To complete this simulation, we used EA FC 25 and updated the squads with the latest injuries and suspensions.

We predict that United could set up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Onana; Dalot, De Ligt, Martinez, Mazraoui; Casemiro, Eriksen, Fernandes; Rashford, Hojlund, Garnacho.

We predict that the Foxes could line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with their starting XI as follows: Ward; Pereira, Coady, Okoli, Thomas; Skipp, Winks; Fatawu, Buonanotte, Cordova-Reid; Edouard.

United started on top at Old Trafford, with Van Nistelrooy's front three causing all sorts of problems in the early stages for Leicester. The pressure from the hosts started to mount, and 29 minutes in, United took a deserved lead.

Diogo Dalot won back possession on the