Leicester City have an opportunity to bounce back from Sunday’s defeat to Leeds when they face off against third from bottom Fulham.
The games come thick and fast for the Foxes, and tonight provides a perfect opportunity to put Sunday’s loss behind them and regain some momentum. However, Scott Parker’s men will be looking to pick up points of their own if they are to mount a push for survival.
On paper Leicester are favourites to come out on top in tonight’s fixture, the Foxes sit in a healthy fourth place where as Fulham find themselves in the relegation zone and seven points from safety (although they do have a game in hand over seventeenth placed Brighton). the east Midlands side also boast the fifth best expected goals (xG) in the league against a Fulham side who have the sixth highest expected goals conceded (xGC). However, as Leicester found out in the reverse fixture games are not won on stats alone.
Fulham claimed all there points last time the sides met in November with a 2-1 win over a depleted Leicester side. A long ball over the top finished by Ademola Lookman and an Ivan Cavaleiro penalty put Fulham ahead in the first half and Leicester struggled to break through the resolute Cottagers defensive until the 86th minute when Harvey Barnes blasted a consolation goal home from close range.
Brendan Rodgers’ men will need to be wary of the London team’s fast paced counter attack; while creating plenty of chances going forwards in the absence of the clinical Jamie Vardy.
Key battles between Leicester City and Fulham
Many games are won and lost in midfield and this encounter looks no different. Zambo Anguissa was heavily linked with a move away from Craven Cottage in the summer with interest from Spain and Italy widely reported but the Cameroon international has been a regular in Scott parker’s side this season. Anguissa is a player of high quality in both defence and attack and Leicester will need to make sure they do not let him grow into the game and dictate the play.
Fulham are likely to defend in a back 5 and try to stifle the Foxes in the final third, breaking down teams who set up in a deep defensive block has been an issue for Leicester for the past few seasons and the in form duo of Harvey Barnes and James Maddison will need to be at their best to help guide their team to victory. Maddison has contributed with a goal or assist in four of Leicester’s previous 5 while Barnes is enjoying his highest scoring premier league campaign to date with 7 goals in 20 appearances.
Defensively the return of Aleksandar Mitrovic could provide an all too familiar problem for Rodger’s whose zonal marking from set pieces has come under scrutiny from fans. Leicester rank fourth worst in the league when in comes to both headed chances and chances fromset pieces conceded, anyone who has watched the Serbian target man play before knows headed goals are very much Mitrovic’s speciality.
Injuries
Fulham have a relatively healthy squad to pick from tonight with only Tom Cairney and Terrence Kongolo unavailable for selection.
On the other hand Leicester’s Injury crisis continues with Jamie Vardy, Wilfried Ndidi, Timothy Castagne, Dennis Praet and Wes Morgan all side-lined. It would appear Wesley Fofana has also ruled himself out of tonight’s game after he retweeted a post from a fan account suggesting he has a Thigh injury that could keep him out for up to 5 weeks. This has not been confirmed by the club but it would be strange for French starlet to to repost this information if it were not true.
Predicted Foxes line-up
Taking into account the growing injury list Leicester’s squad depth will be tested again.
Captain Schmeichel should remain ever present between the posts, with a new look back four of Ricardo Pereira, Caglar Soyuncu, Jonny Evans and James Justin likely to be utilised. The rest of the team may not see many changes with Youri Tielemans and Papy Mendy sitting in front of the defence and Marc Albrighton, James Maddison and Harvey Barnes are the most likely to provide service for make shift striker Ayoze Perez.
Cengiz Under has been pushing for a Premier League start and should feature even if it be from the bench, Kelechi Iheanacho will be wondering what he has to do to get his opportunity up top in Vardy’s absence.
Fulham have been a much better side following their win against Leicester previously which seemed to kick start they London club’s season, they tend to hang around in games and have been unlucky not to to take points from teams sitting higher up the table than themselves on a few occasions. Leicester will need to put out a strong performance but certainly have the quality to do so even with some rotation required. I predict a 2-1 victory for the Foxes and a reversal of Novembers result despite the absence of some key players. All stats used in this article are taken from Fantasy Football Scout.