Leicester City vs Birmingham City: 3 Foxes who must start
Football returns to the King Power Saturday afternoon, as Leicester City welcome Birmingham City with both sides looking to progress into the 5th round of the FA Cup.
The East Midlands side are without a win in their last two -which has been a rarity this campaign- but a break from the Championship's ever ongoing grind, may be give City the lift they need. Enzo Maresca made wholesale changes in the 3rd round win against Millwall, so it would be expected for him to do the same once again. Here are three Foxes we think Maresca must include for the weekend's cup tie.
Yunus Akgun
With Leicester once again throwing away a late lead against Ipswich Town after they had substituted Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. It is vital that City have a back up for the academy graduate. Akgun has displayed many times that he possess a lot of technical ability and capability of receiving the ball between the lines under pressure - his first half against Liverpool in the EFL Cup was a prime example of this -. The drop off currently is too steep when "KDH" and Wilfred Ndidi - who will not return until April - are absent from the midfield. Hopefully a good 90 minutes from the Turkish international can springboard his Foxes career into life and perhaps even challenge for a place as a first-team regular.
Callum Doyle
Another loanee that after his long spell out with injury, will be desperate for some gametime and an opportunity to reclaim his spot as the left-back/centre-half currently being held by James Justin. What separates Doyle from Justin is his passing ability, especially his ability to break through the lines. Just like he did for Tom Cannons goal against Millwall in the previous round. His long absence has meant that Maresca has had to chop and change regularly in order to keep Justin's fit, as he has been the only real option for that position.
Kasey McAteer
Similarly to the other's on this list it is paramount that McAteer gets back to to the level he reached at the start of the campaign before his injury in the win vs Blackburn Rovers. This is a great opportunity for the winger to do so. Playing against decent opposition who albeit despite doing the sensible thing and sacking Wayne Rooney, are still very much struggling. If he can achieve this it would give City once again some great depth in the wide areas, something currently they are severely lacking.
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