Manchester United 3-1 Leicester City

Robin van Persie gives Man Utd the lead

• Man Utd's second straight league win

• United's ninth home league win of campaign

• Leicester lose second straight league game

• Foxes three points from safety

Manchester United scored three first-half goals to easily beat bottom side Leicester and move up to third place in the Premier League table.

After a slow start from United, Daley Blind set up Robin van Persie to break the deadlock with a precise finish.

Radamel Falcao followed up Angel Di Maria's shot to make it 2-0 before Wes Morgan headed into his own net to cap a miserable first half for the Foxes.

Leicester belatedly replied through Marcin Wasilewski's late header.

Louis van Gaal's side were not at their best but they did not have to be against a Foxes side who offered little in attack.

United let slip a 2-0 lead and were beaten 5-3 when these sides met at King Power Stadium in September, but there was never a hint of a similar fightback from the Foxes this time.

Leicester concentrated on frustrating their hosts in the early stages and that game-plan was working until Andrej Kramaric allowed Blind to steal possession after a United attack had broken down.

Blind looked up and released Van Persie, who was given the benefit of the doubt by the linesman and adjudged to be onside before he expertly steered the bouncing ball past Mark Schwarzer.

Up until then, United had struggled to find any fluidity in their attacks and barely threatened Schwarzer's goal.

Radamel Falcao slides in to make it 2-0 from close range with his fourth goal of the season for United

But the Foxes' 42-year-old goalkeeper was beaten again five minutes later after Van Persie sent Di Maria running clear.

Schwarzer did well to keep out the Argentina forward's shot, but Falcao beat two defenders to slide in to turn home the loose ball from close range.

Leicester's collapse was completed in the 44th minute when Blind met Wayne Rooney's corner at the near post, and Morgan could only direct his attempted clearance past Schwarzer and into the net.

With the game won, United did not push forward for more goals after the break and they did not have much defending to do either.

The hosts were given a scare when a sloppy back-pass from Phil Jones almost let substitute David Nugent in, but David De Gea was alert to the danger and cleared.

Even when Wasilewski headed home his first Foxes goal - in his 51st game for the club - with 10 minutes to go, there seemed little chance of any late drama.

Another Leicester substitute, Marc Albrighton flashed a shot over the bar from the edge of the area, but United held on comfortably.

The victory moves them above Southampton, at least until the Saints host Swansea on Sunday.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal:

"I'm very happy because of the positive result. We lost the last home match so we had to show to our fans that we are coming back again.

"I liked my team in the first half. In the second half we tried to kill the game because we know what happened at Leicester when we were also 1-3 ahead and we lost the game.

"But in second half we played the ball too much backwards, and that I do not like that as you always need to keep your eyes open for the pass forward.

"But we also have to learn to kill the game, we may have done that more than we wanted, but it is a learning process."

Leicester manager Nigel Pearson:

"It was a difficult game for us. We are playing against very good side, to concede three goals in a really short space of time put us up against it.

"The first goal is offside but I can't complain too much as we were beaten by a very, very good side.

"In the second-half we have at least shown a bit more resilience and managed the ball a bit better. I think that was our problem in the first half.

"It was a difficult game for our front players today. We didn't give them the service they needed. Our forwards spent more time working defensively. We didn't create enough pressure to make it more difficult for them in the first-half."

A banner is displayed as United commemorate the 57th anniversary of the Munich air disaster before kick-off

Falcao and his United team-mates could not find a way through a well-organised Leicester defence early on

Van Persie broke the deadlock with United's first effort on target after 27 minutes

Morgan (crouching) heads into his own net to put United 3-0 up before half-time