Foxes of Leicester
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Preview: Brighton and Hove Albion Vs Leicester City

By Harneet Singh Sethi

LEICESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 18: Jamie Vardy of Leicester City (9) celebrates as he scores their first goal with team mates during The Emirates FA Cup Quarter Final match between Leicester City and Chelsea at The King Power Stadium on March 18, 2018 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 18: Jamie Vardy of Leicester City (9) celebrates as he scores their first goal with team mates during The Emirates FA Cup Quarter Final match between Leicester City and Chelsea at The King Power Stadium on March 18, 2018 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /
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It has been a long time without the Premier League, and it is with great excitement that we can finally welcome it back.

There may have been no shortage of action with the international break doing just about enough to keep the footballing world interested, but watching Leicester City in action is second to none.

Having been knocked out of the FA Cup by a late Pedro Rodriguez goal at the King Power Stadium, the Foxes now have everything to play for in the league. If you look at the positive side of an otherwise gutting defeat, Claude Puel’s side can fully focus on their aim of making it to Europe now, which some may count as a bigger achievement than a cup win – but the scale of the task is just as big, too.

In a run of eight potentially crucial games, Leicester City first face Brighton and Hove Albion, who they beat 2-0 earlier in the season with strikes from Shinji Okazaki and Harry Maguire. A lot has changed since, including Okazaki’s goalscoring fortunes, Maguire’s status at the club and the club’s manager as well.

Related Story: Leicester City star Jamie Vardy had to buy new pair of boots ahead of England game

The one thing that is still the same, however, is the Foxes’ superiority over the Seagulls, which just doesn’t reflect in the league position, but in the way that the two sides operate on the pitch, too.

Chris Hughton has done a fantastic job so far – and that is certain to be shown respect for by Leicester – but his side may well find the visitors too hot to handle.

Main Man

LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 27: Jamie Vardy of England celebrates after scoring his sides first goal during the International friendly between England and Italy at Wembley Stadium on March 27, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 27: Jamie Vardy of England celebrates after scoring his sides first goal during the International friendly between England and Italy at Wembley Stadium on March 27, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /

When it’s about Leicester City, the main man always is Jamie Vardy. The 31-year old continued his terrific season in front of goal, scoring his seventh goal for England as they drew 1-1 with Italy at the Wembley Stadium.

With eight goals from 13 appearances across all competitions this year, he doesn’t look like he can put a foot wrong at the moment – and he shouldn’t do so on Saturday either.

Quotes

"“It’s massively important for us, everyone’s devastated to go out the FA Cup, we put in a good shift,” Danny Simpson said as he spoke of the upcoming fixture’s importance.“Everyone put in a performance that we believed was going to be enough on the night, it wasn’t to be. Now we have to concentrate on the league and Brighton have been doing well.“It’s going to be a tough game so we want to finish as high as we can in the league. That’s our objective now. We’ve got to finish as high as we can, starting against Brighton.”"

Next: Leicester City interested in Bologna winger Simone Verdi

Possible XI

Schmeichel; Simpson, Maguire, Morgan, Fuchs; Albrighton, Ndidi, Iborra, Mahrez, Okazaki; Vardy.