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Leicester vs Brighton, preview: can the Foxes progress in the FA Cup?

By Elliot Mackness

Neal Maupay of Brighton and Hove Albion, Wilfred Ndidi of Leicester City (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Neal Maupay of Brighton and Hove Albion, Wilfred Ndidi of Leicester City (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /
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Leicester City
Neal Maupay of Brighton and Hove Albion, Wilfred Ndidi of Leicester City (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /

On 10th February, Leicester City will host Brighton & Hove Albion in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Join FoL as we explore how the Foxes can progress.

On Wednesday, Leicester City shall be hosting the alluring Brighton & Hove Albion at the King Power Stadium, as we hope to continue our push to win a trophy or get champions league football this season. Both of those objectives look to be succeeding, despite a plethora of setbacks.

Be that conceding silly goals, losing matches we ought not to have lost with the quality of players we have, or major injuries to form critical players. There are plenty of things which have gone wrong. So, how do we bounce back from them?

This article will briefly explore Leicester’s next challenge, examining defensive and offensive capabilities, as well as declaring how the Foxes can win this match.

Leicester City: Up for the cup!

Leicester City have faced two opponents thus far in the FA Cup – the only domestic cup competition the East Midlands outfit remains in. The first was a 4-0 pumping of Stoke. The second a 3-1 victory over Brentford.

These are two good Championship clubs. So, make no mistake, Brendan Rodgers does care for this competition and does want to see us progress. The FA Cup may not be the most prestigious silverware, but silverware is silverware, and we are hungry for it.

In the first, Brendan’s Blue Army marched out a terrifyingly strong starting eleven for the Stoke clash: Kasper Schmeichel, James Justin, Jonny Evans, Wesley Fofana, Timothy Castagne, Wilfred Ndidi, Youri Tielemans, Dennis Praet, Harvey Barnes, Marc Albrighton, and Ayoze Perez.

This team was exceptionally good and could have scored more. In fact, despite having 62 per cent possession in the first half, with three shots on target, the Foxes only scored one goal. A James Justin classic. Check out this video of the goal.

We saw enthusiastic performances all over the pitch. The only performance which was nowhere near as impressive as they had been was Praet. We usually expect penetrating runs from the Belgian. Never mind that, he was still a playmaker and is being missed now due to a long-term injury.

The Brentford clash had more changes: Danny Ward, Luke Thomas, Caglar Soyuncu, Dan Amartey, Ricardo Pereira, Tielemans, Papy Mendy, James Maddison, Harvey Barnes, Cengiz Under (finally), and Perez, we only had to wait seven minutes to concede a terrible goal.

After that, the second half was comfortable. Tielemans ran the show, Under showed the class player he can be, and Maddison scored another great goal.

Brighton on the other hand is also up for the cup. Their team and their performances certainly deserve to go further in competitions and be higher in the Premier League. They are entertaining to watch and have an impressive set of players.

The Seagulls beat Newport County on penalties with their first team minus Robert Sanchez – who has become their first team goalkeeper after a lot of great performances. Then they faced Blackpool, who they beat 2-1 with another Yves Bissouma masterclass. They did make several changes to their line-up though.