United meanwhile remain second in the FA Barclaycard Premiership, two point behind leaders Arsenal. The Gunners, who also have agame in hand over United, today defeated North London rivals Tottenham in a tense match at Highbury.
Manchester United made six changes from the side that started against Deportivo on Tuesday evening. David Beckham and Roy Keane missed out because of injuries sustained in that game whilst Fabien Barthez, Ryan Giggs, Ronny Johnsen and Ruud Van Nistelrooy were all rested.
In their place into the side came Roy Carroll in goal, Denis Irwin, Phil Neville, Quinton Fortune, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Deigo Forlan. Wes Brown came on as a second half substitute, playing for the first time since November. After spending a long period out with a knee injury it was a chance for him to reclaim his place in the side.
The match was generally a dull affair but will be recalled by Leicester fans for years to come because it was the day their relegation was confirmed and maybe the last game of Dave Bassett's long and distinguished career as a manager, he moves into an upstairs position, former Seagull's chief Micky Adams takes over from Monday.
After a poor first half which saw Leicester create the better of the chances, afraid of the prospect of dropping points to the lowly Foxes, Alex Ferguson brought on superstars Ryan Giggs and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
As a result of the change Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the only goal of the game to give the Red Devils a slightly fortunate win. A long throw from Gary Neville was not cleared by Frank Sinclair, allowing Solskjaer to find no more than a couple of yards of space and shoot past Ian Walker in the Leicester goal.
The Foxes tried in vain to find an equaliser, but the strike force of Brian Deane and Paul Dickov was unable to find a way past Roy Carroll. Deane missed Leicester's best chance of the game, rifling over from close range when through on the United goalkeeper.
The Filbert Street crowd were superb and backed Leicester to the last, hoping to bow out in style. But Leicester have struggled from a lack of goals this season and fortunately for United they couldn't get one. It wasn't a great game but then many United minds would surely have been on Wednesday's Champions League Quarter Final whilst Leicester would have been on Division One.