Manchester United 3-1 Leicester City - Easy three points for LvG

Robin van Persie broke his goal drought

Manchester United enhanced their top-four hopes with a comfortable 3-1 victory against rock-bottom Leicester City at Old Trafford.

The match was as good as over at the break by which time United, without hitting any great heights, had cruised into a three-goal lead.

Although the Foxes improved after the interval and scored a late consolation goal, Nigel Pearson's side never looked like taking anything from the encounter.

There was certainly never any likelihood of Leicester completing an unlikely double over Louis van Gaal's team following their amazing 5-3 victory over United at the King Power Stadium in September.

United started the game well, but Leicester refused to buckle against the home team's early onslaught and soon started to come into the match themselves.

Angel Di Maria was in the thick of the action in the opening exchanges and he almost charged down Mark Schwarzer's clearance inside the first minute, before robbing Jeffrey Schlupp on the touchline and whipping in a cross that was headed away.

The Argentina international then tried a speculative volley that flew over the bar before Robin van Persie sliced a Luke Shaw centre high and wide.

When United finally broke the deadlock in the 27th minute, it came before David de Gea or Schwarzer had been forced to make a save.

That all changed when Andrej Kramaric allowed the outstanding Daley Blind to win the ball back and he sent Van Persie free.

The Dutchman ran on, despite appearing to be offside, and slotted the ball past Leicester's 42-year-old goalkeeper to register his ninth goal of the season.

United doubled their lead five minutes later when Radamel Falcao forced the ball home after Schwarzer had failed to hold on to Di Maria's shot.

Van Persie had started the move that led to the goal, sending Di Maria clear and he got in the shot that Schwarzer did well to save, but Colombian striker Falcao showed great determination to beat two defenders and slide the loose ball home from close range.

United ended the game as a contest before half-time when they scored a third goal in the 44th minute.

Wayne Rooney's corner was met by Blind at the near post and the unfortunate Wes Morgan could only direct his attempted clearance past Schwarzer and into the net.

The second half was a non-event as United strolled to victory, while the visitors seemed content to keep the scoreline respectable.

United were quite happy to keep possession for long spells and they created very few clear-cut chances.

However, Leicester finally began to push forward in the closing stages while United appeared to lose their shape and composure after Van Persie had been substituted.

A sloppy back-pass from Phil Jones almost let substitute David Nugent in, but De Gea was alert to the danger and cleared the ball away while Schlupp fired an ambitious effort wide.

The game was in danger of petering out until the visitors grabbed a goal out of the blue with 10 minutes left. The former Anderlecht defender Marcin Wasilewski headed home his first goal for the club, in what was the Poland international's 51st appearance, after some good play by Esteban Cambiasso.

As Leicester pushed forward in search of a second goal, the former Aston Villa midfielder Marc Albrighton flashed a shot over the bar from the edge of the area, but it was far too little, too late by Pearson's side as United eased to a victory that lifts them up to third in the table.

In contrast, Leicester are rooted to the foot of the table and are three points away from safety.