Leicester City 2 Manchester United 2

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Reds were twice pegged back and thwarted in an attempt to leapfrog the Foxes into second place in the table.

Marcus Rashford's opener was cancelled out by Harvey Barnes in the first half and, when it looked like Bruno Fernandes might have won it for the visitors, Jamie Vardy popped up to send a shot in off substitute Axel Tuanzebe, for a United own goal, late on to ensure a share of the spoils at the King Power Stadium.

FIRST HALF - EVEN STEVENS

A fascinating contest unfolded as any fears that this would be a cagey affair evaporated in the opening exchanges. Luke Shaw did well to find Fernandes in only the second minute and our no.18's cross deserved better than being headed off target by Rashford. The Foxes' response was immediate, with Vardy beating Eric Bailly to a James Justin centre to acrobatically volley over the top.

David De Gea survived a nervous moment when Vardy closed him down, with Fred thankfully on hand to nip in to deny Marc Albrighton a gift goal. Soon afterwards, Vardy raced clear to shoot wastefully wide but would have been offside in any case.

Once things settled down, United took control and went ahead in the 23rd minute. After former Red Jonny Evans conceded a cheap throw-in, Daniel James cut inside to feed Fernandes who, on the stretch, stabbed it through to Rashford. The England international did the rest, firing clinically past Kasper Schmeichel into the corner of the net.

Leicester equalised with their first shot on target, in the 32nd minute. Fernandes lost possession when trying to nutmeg Wilfred Ndidi and the ball made its way to Barnes, who was allowed time to shoot and speared in a venomous shot that proved too powerful for De Gea. Back came the visitors, with Fernandes meeting a Shaw free-kick with a header that he was, unfortunately, unable to keep down.

SECOND HALF - VARDY DENIES REDS

Things were just as frenetic, and entertaining, after the restart with Justin doing superbly to spoil a two-on-one opportunity for the Reds by intercepting a James pass towards Fernandes, following the cutest of dummies by Anthony Martial.

Maddison had a free-kick in a promising position but his shot deflected off the wall, after Eric Bailly handled an errant pass by Fred on the edge of the box. The Brazilian got things right at the other end, when threading a perfect ball through to Rashford. The striker raced clear but Schmeichel won the duel with a world-class save with his right hand to keep the scores level.

Martial did beat Schmeichel in another one-on-one but the flag was raised, as expected, and VAR confirmed he was marginally offside when he latched onto a pass by Rashford. Maguire headed a Shaw free-kick over the top but United were celebrating when substitute Edinson Cavani made a swift impact, flicking the ball into the path of Fernandes, who rolled it home in style.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to earn three valuable points as, with five minutes of normal time left, another sub, Ayoze Perez, crossed from the right for the ever-dangerous Vardy to sweep the ball in off Tuanzebe past a helpless De Gea. Perez then almost prodded home in injury-time but was offside anyway as a draw was probably just about a fair result.

MATCH DETAILS

Leicester: Schmeichel (c); Justin, Fofana, Evans, Castagne; Ndidi, Tielemans; Albrighton (Perez 81), Maddison, Barnes; Vardy.

Subs: Ward, Fuchs, Amartey, Choudhury, Mendy, Praet, Thomas, Iheanacho.

Goals: Barnes 31,Tuanzebe 85 o.g

Booked: Maddison, Ndidi.

United: De Gea, Bailly, Lindelof (Tuanzebe 66), Maguire (c); James (Pogba 54),Fred, McTominay, Shaw; Fernandes; Rashford, Martial (Cavani 75).

Subs: Henderson, Telles, Lingard, Matic, van de Beek,Greenwood.

Goals: Rashford 23, Fernandes 79.

Booked: Fernandes.