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Preserving a slice of United Premier League history next Saturday at Leicester couldn't be in safer hands.

While the Reds were showering and celebrating digging themselves out of a hole against Watford at Vicarage Road, Jamie Vardy was scoring at Newcastle for Leicester.

The former non-League now England striker's goal at St James' Park was his tenth consecutive goal in the Premier League and inked his name alongside Ruud Van Nistelrooy in the record books.

The United Dutch marksman's 2003 feat and place at the top will be confined to the stats waste bin in effect if Vardy scores against the Reds at the King Power Stadium.

The Foxes' lair does not hold great memories for Louis van Gaal. His first visit in September 2014 saw that horrible collapse in the 5-3 defeat.

David de Gea and Chris Smalling were complicit in the dreadful surrender.

Smalling, in particular, was at the centre of the devastating crumble when he came on for the injured Jonny Evans after only 30 minutes when City had only scored once.

The Londoner recovered later in the season and he was no ugly duckling, but who'd have predicted he'd turn into such a swan this campaign.

On the eve of the season you wouldn't have banked on his plumage becoming so majestic and neither would you have believed that goalkeeper De Gea would have been in freezing Hertfordshire in November as opposed to be preparing for the Real Madrid versus Barcelona El Clasico in Spain.

But thank goodness his transfer deadline move to the Bernabeu collapsed so freakishly and thanks also that Smalling has become such a giant.

In pictures: Watford 1 United 2

It is easy to live in the past while United endure their transitional period but when Van Nistelrooy was storming his way to a new record United were being held together by the eccentric Fabien Barthez and the ageing Lauren Blanc in his twilight years for the bulk of that sequence before Tim Howard and Rio Ferdinand became a new look spine.

Both Barthez and Blanc had European Championships and World Cup winning pedigree for France but while there might be plenty of illustrious Reds from yesteryear you'd rather were still in Van Gaal's side you wouldn't swap Les Bleus duo for De Gea and Smalling.

While United don't have a Van Nistelrooy to blow away opponents, and pass up too many of the chances they do create, you have to be grateful for that Anglo-Spanish axis.

Against Watford they were largely redundant when United dominated the first half but when the Reds couldn't add to Memphis Depay's goal the Hornets possessed a sting.

Smalling handled the aerial power of Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo and whatever scraps they were afforded De Gea magnificently repelled.

United certainly needed that resistance to hang on. Were it not for Marcos Rojo scruffily and rashly mishandling a late situation and giving away the penalty it would have been another clean sheet for the Reds and the ten hours-plus they'd impressively kept out opponents would have stretched further.

But once they had been breached at least United proved they do have the resilience and spirit of previous wearers of the shirt to dig in, fight back and secure a win.

Bring on Vardy!