Predicted Leicester XI ahead of Cardiff clash

Leicester City host Cardiff City at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, in their second home game of the 2023/24 Championship season. Here is Foxes of Leicester’s predicted XI and injury update.

The Foxes have made an excellent start to their Championship campaign after a 2-1 win against Coventry in their first game and a 1-0 win over Huddersfield. City’s new style of play is exciting to watch and has lifted the spirit amongst fans, who feel they can enjoy going to watch Leicester again. If Leicester beat Cardiff on Saturday, it will be the first time in their history they have won the opening four matches of a season.

The Bluebirds are yet to pick up three points, after a 2-2 draw with Leeds on the opening day and a 2-1 loss to Queens Park Rangers. Cardiff will be looking to bounce back and claim their first win of the season, so will be no easy team to play against. No game is easy in the Championship.

Leicester City injury update

Following Enzo Maresca’s press conference on Friday afternoon, it was confirmed that Kasey McAteer is still out with a foot injury, but should be back within a week to ten days. Victor Kristiansen is fit and available for selection, whereas Mads Hermansen’s fitness is still to be decided.

Predicted XI

Here is our starting XI to face Cardiff:

Mads Hermansen, Ricardo Pereira, Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard, Callum Doyle, Harry Winks, Cesare Casadei, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Dennis Praet, Stephy Mavididi, Kelechi Iheanacho

Although his fitness is still to be decided, I’ve gone with Hermansen in goal. While Stolarczyk has kept two clean sheets, the Danish keeper is more than likely to come back into the XI after training over the last few days.

The back four of Pereira, Faes, Vestergaard and Doyle will remain unchanged after keeping a clean sheet against Huddersfield.

Looking out to the wings will be Praet and Mavididi, supported by Winks, KDH and Casadei in the centre of midfield. Winks has made a positive impact to the Leicester side so far and remains at the heart of almost every forward move.

With the introduction of the Italian, Praet will be pushed out to the wing and take on a similar role to the one he played in the second-half at The John Smith’s Stadium. After hearing what Maresca has to say about the Chelsea loanee it makes you feel excited to see him play. He’s been described as being able to make himself a threat inside the opposition’s penalty box and the Leicester City boss has praised Casadei’s ability to get from box to box.

Leading the line I’ve gone with Iheanacho over Jamie Vardy. The Nigerian striker is able to hold the ball and create space to bring his teammates into play.