TIME UPDATED: ‘New’ kick-off time for Leicester City vs. Chelsea, prediction, team news, lineups
TIME UPDATED: ‘New’ kick-off time for Leicester City vs. Chelsea, prediction, team news, lineups
Kicking off the return of Premier League action after the international break, Leicester City and Chelsea butt heads at the King Power Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.
The 12.30pm kickoff sees Blues boss Enzo Maresca reunite with the club he led back into the top flight at the first time of asking last season, and his successor Steve Cooper is on track to keep them there.
What sort of reception Maresca receives from the King Power faithful ought to dominate the preamble on Saturday; despite leading the Foxes to the Championship crown and the coveted prize of top-flight football, the 44-year-old’s style of play did not sit well with every supporter during their sticky patches.
However, Maresca has been working his managerial magic and then some at Chelsea, who have unexpectedly positioned themselves inside the top three of the Premier League table, even if they are only above Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion thanks to a superior goal difference.
Chelsea’s ambitions have been harmed slightly by a run of just one victory from their last four Premier League matches, although their three winless games in that sequence came against Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, the latter of whom were undone by a fine Pedro Neto leveller in a 1-1 draw on matchday 11.
Coincidentally, Arsenal were the last team to shut Chelsea out of a Premier League away fixture back in April; since that 5-0 Emirates embarrassment, the Blues have scored in eight successive top-flight matches on the road, and 12 goals scored on their travels is the best in the division so far this term.
The West London giants have traditionally struggled to pick up where they left off after a hiatus, though, as they have won just one of their last seven games immediately after an international break, that victory coming away to Bournemouth back in September.
Tasked with keeping Leicester afloat in the Premier League after Maresca took the Foxes back into the big time, Cooper is succeeding in that quest so far, even if results just before the two-week hiatus left a lot to be desired.
Winless in all tournaments since their unforgettable late triumph over Southampton in October, Leicester have fallen to Manchester United twice (once in the EFL Cup), Nottingham Forest and very nearly Ipswich Town, whom they cruelly denied victory with virtually the last kick of the contest.
However, a tally of 10 points from 33 on offer is good enough for 15th place in the Premier League table – three clear of Crystal Palace in the highest of the relegation spots – and the Foxes are yet to suffer back-to-back home losses in the 2024-25 campaign.
As Chelsea make nets bulge for fun on the road, Leicester have coincidentally scored in all six of their King Power matches in all tournaments this season, although the only home game in which they struck more than one goal was their 4-0 battering of Tranmere Rovers in the EFL Cup.
Furthermore, not since Youri Tielemans’s wonder strike in the 2020-21 FA Cup final have Leicester got one over Chelsea, losing five and drawing one of their last six contests against the Blues, who ran out 4-2 victors in the quarter-finals of England’s most prestigious knockout tournament last term.
Leicester City Premier League form:
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Leicester City form (all competitions):
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Chelsea Premier League form:
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Chelsea form (all competitions):
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The Stamford Bridge medical room has welcomed back its most frequent occupant this week, as Maresca has confirmed that the luckless Reece James has picked up a small hamstring problem and will be unavailable for the trip to Leicester.
However, the Blues boss also told reporters that James was the only injured player in his ranks, suggesting that Romeo Lavia will be OK after a hamstring scare, while Cole Palmer, Jadon Sancho and Levi Colwill have all been pictured in training this week after their own concerns.
In addition, Wesley Fofana and Malo Gusto ought to be given the all-clear after withdrawing from their respective France teams, and Lavia’s availability could be of paramount importance following Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez’s exploits in South America.
Chelsea are not the only team grappling with a fresh fitness concern, although Leicester’s is much higher up on the severity scale, as attacker Abdul Fatawu suffered an ACL injury while on duty with Ghana and is expected to miss the remainder of the season.
Fatawu is just one of five attacking concerns for Saturday’s hosts, who are also sweating over Jamie Vardy (back), Bobby Decordova-Reid (Achilles) and Jordan Ayew (knee), but Patson Daka (ankle) is on track to be available.
Only Ricardo Pereira (thigh) and Jakub Stolarczyk (ankle) are definitely missing through injury for the Foxes, but Facundo Buonanotte must serve a one-game suspension for picking up his fifth yellow card of the season at Old Trafford.
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Hermansen; Justin, Faes, Vestergaard, Kristiansen; Winks, Ndidi, Soumare; El Khannouss, Edouard, Mavididi
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Lavia; Madueke, Palmer, Neto; Jackson
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