Burnley v Leicester: getting the Foxes season back on track

Attacking without James Maddison

The East Midlands outfit have had one other key issue in recent matches: an upset in midfield. Dennis Praet, Ayoze Perez, Harvey Barnes, and James Maddison are all injured or out for this upcoming match. Our first team creative playmaker, his cover, and our only other high-quality option who can play that position, are all injured.

This is a massive issue. When Maddison, Tielemans, and Ndidi, are all playing, Leicester City have an incredibly balanced midfield. From defending and retaining possession, to transitioning and attacking, they are brilliant and have the perfect culmination of ingredients to make them – arguably – the best midfield in the league.

However, when a single one of them is missing, the cohesion and understanding between the players vanishes. This is simply because they become used to the partnership when they play together so frequently. Unfortunately, the Foxes will need to fill in the AM role with someone else – be that Kelechi Iheanacho or Sidnei Tavares.

Statistically, Leicester City are actually quite average in terms of creating chances. They have an xG (expected goals) of 38.13, actually scoring 45. Judged on this basis they would be ninth in the league table.

However, a major difference between Leicester and the other teams around them is their general patience and lack of constant exertion within a match. The blue army creates less chances but better chances. This has not happened in the last two matches due to the loss of Maddison affecting the rhythm of the midfield.

Burnley on the other hand are traditional. Second worst in terms of xG with 22.31, actually scoring 18. This is due to their risky direct ball strategy constantly giving possession to their opposition.

Expected midfield and attacking line-up: Ndidi, Tielemans, Iheanacho, Marc Albrighton, Ricardo Pereira, Jamie Vardy. Once more, this is not what I want. In the next section I’ll explain what I think will work best.