Preview: Leicester City Vs Manchester City

Sometimes, all you need is three points against Manchester City. At least that’s what Leicester City need anyway.

After Jamie Vardy famously ran away from the Citizens to finish off a scintillating counter-attack to turn the Etihad Stadium into the residing place of apoplexy, Riyad Mahrez reminded everyone as to why he had been named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year in 2016.

He combined with Kevin De Bruyne to embarrass Ben Chilwell – a disaster that the England international still does not seem to have recovered from – and, of course, his former club to eventually secure a comfortable 3-1 win.

But that was December and this is February. City were hosts then and will be guests now. In the month of romance and love and care and affection, the expectation of Leicester will be to duly return the niceties they got for Christmas.

The only problem for the Foxes, though, is that they are no better than what they were the last time they faced the reigning champions. In fact, they have been on a downward trajectory since, which is evident from the 11-point tally in their last eight Premier League fixtures.

Now let us come to the good news. City have not exactly been lighting up the league either. They only have five more points than Leicester since beating them and can be beaten if the hosts can somehow channel the same form that has brought them to this position.

Of course, that is not going to be an easy thing to do with all three of Leicester’s defensive midfielders currently unavailable. Wilfred Ndidi and Nampalys Mendy are both injured, while Hamza Choudhury will be serving a one-gam ban.

It will also not be easy with Jamie Vardy not looking like he’s in the mood to score. He has now failed to find the back of the net in his last eight appearances in all competitions. He’s the man for the big occasion and we know it, but someone has got to remind him of his abilities.

Quotes

"“It will galvanise them as a squad,” Rodgers said of City’s UEFA Champions League ban.“The players will become stronger for it, they will show that spirit, I’m pretty much sure of that.“They’ll want to show no matter what the issues are, they’re still very, very talented players.“It [City’s appeal] is an ongoing process, of course, but I think for Pep [Guardiola] and his players they’ll be very determined to finish the season as strong as they can, in every competition they are in.”"

Predicted XI

Schmeichel; Pereira, Evans, Soyuncu, Chilwell; Praet, Tielemans; Perez, Maddison, Barnes; Vardy.