- Manchester United host Leicester City at Old Trafford on Tuesday evening (6pm BST kick-off)
- That clash will be City's third-last outing of the 2020/21 Premier League season
- ESPN's Mark Ogden believes Ole Gunnar Solskjær is likely to rest players in the clash
- The visit of Leicester will be the Red Devils' third game in six days ahead of another on Thursday
The Foxes travel to the North West sitting fourth in the Premier League table with three games remaining, while United will be onto their third fixture across an eight-day spell, which began in Rome last Thursday and ends at home against English champions Liverpool this Thursday.
Solskjær's side, although beaten by Roma across 90 minutes last week, secured safe passage into the final of the UEFA Europa League on aggregate and followed that up with a 3-1 comeback success over Aston Villa in the Premier League on Tuesday.
With a big clash against rivals Liverpool on the horizon, though, ESPN Senior Writer Ogden believes Solskjær could use Tuesday's encounter with Leicester as an opportunity to rest key players during a heavily congested period for United.
"The fact they won at Aston Villa on Sunday means they can rest a lot of players," he told LCFC TV this week. "I’m pretty sure when Brendan Rodgers sees the teamsheet on Tuesday night he’ll be quite relieved to see that quite a lot of Man Utd’s key players aren’t playing.
"Ole Gunnar Solskjær made the point that they played in Rome only on Thursday and then Aston Villa on Sunday. They play Leicester on Tuesday and then Liverpool on Thursday.
"It’s impossible for all these players to play. The rule of thumb is anyone who started in Rome and started at Aston Villa won’t start against Leicester, so that’ll be people like Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood, they won’t be involved.
"In many ways, Leicester could be facing Man Utd’s second string, people like Donny van de Beek, Juan Mata and Daniel James, so it’s a good chance for Leicester to get those points they need for the top four. There are lots of players like Brandon Williams and Alex Telles, so it will be a really shuffled pack.
"The danger for Leicester is that all these players have a point to prove, but for me, they haven’t played often enough, so it could help Leicester in a big way."
There will be a lot of importance played on Thursday's fixture against Liverpool at Old Trafford, Ogden believes, with an opportunity to dent the Reds' own aspirations as well as closing the gap to leaders Manchester City in the league standings.
"Man Utd need to beat Liverpool whenever they play them," Ogden added. "They haven’t had that much success against Liverpool in recent seasons, certainly since Jürgen Klopp’s been there.
"I think there’s two factors here. Solskjær’s priority is to get his players fit and ready for the Europa League Final against Villarreal in two weeks, so the Leicester game, for him, is the game where players may have to sit it out, but Liverpool are looking for points to get into the top four.
"Man Utd would like nothing more than to make sure Liverpool don’t get into the Champions League next season because, as well as being big rivals, I don’t think Man Utd would want to play Liverpool in the Champions League next season if they get to the knockout stages.
"If it’s a case of eliminating one of your big rivals now, while you can, then rest players against Leicester and have a full-strength team against Liverpool to practically end their hopes of qualifying. It’s a big week for Man Utd in that respect.
"If Solskjær is tactical in that way and plays his cards in a certain way, it could help United this season and next."
United are on track to secure their joint-highest league position and best points tally since Sir Alex Ferguson's departure in 2013 and, while there is much work yet to be done, Ogden says progress is slowly being made at Old Trafford under Solskjær's guidance.
"Look at where they are in the table and, if they win their next four games, they’ll end up with the highest points total since Sir Alex Ferguson retired," he continued. "They could finish on 82 points, which is more that what José Mourinho’s team got in 2018.
"I don’t think they will manage that, considering the situation with resting players, but the fact they finished so far behind Liverpool last season and will finish above them this year, comfortably with Champions League, it’s great progress, but he does need to win something.
"The Europa League is an opportunity this season, but the question is: can Solskjær take this United team to the next level and challenge for titles?
"They haven’t really done that despite the fact they’re set to finish second. Progress is good, but they need to make a big step now, maybe sign a couple of key players to take them up to be able to challenge Man City."