This weekend’s Premier League action gets underway at the King Power Stadium as Leicetser City meet Newcastle United in this week’s Friday Night Football.
Leicester can consolidate seventh ahead of the weekend’s games with victory here, whilst all three points could see Newcastle take a huge step towards safety.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester have Jonny Evans available after the defender recovered from a hip injury picked up against Bournemouth at start of month.
Jamie Vardy is also an option after overcoming a knock picked up at the end of Saturday’s win over Huddersfield, alongside Harry Maguire who has been absent with personal reasons.
Marc Albrighton (thigh) could return next weekend but Daniel Amartey is a few weeks away from returning from an ankle injury.
Mohamed Diame could feature for Newcastle after overcoming a knock, which kept him out of last weekend’s clash with Crystal Palace.
Sean Longstaff and Florian LeJeune are out with knee injuries.
Form
Leicester enter this game on a four match winning streak but have kept just one clean sheet in their five games so far under Brendan Rodgers.
Newcastle meanwhile have taken just four points from their last five games, conceding twice in four of those games before losing 1-0 at home last weekend to Palace.
Stat Attack
- Leicester have lost just one of their last seven meetings with Newcastle in all competitions (W6, L1).
- The Foxes are winless in two of their last three matches against Newcastle which took place in April, with one of those meetings coming at the King Power Stadium which they lost 2-1 last season.
- Newcastle’s Matt Ritchie has produced 238 crosses this season, and has now replaced Lucas Digne of Everton and the league’s highest cross maker so far this season.
- Jamie Vardy has netted five goals so far under Brendan Rodgers compared to one in his last five games under Claude Puel.
- Both teams’ first choice goalkeepers have played the most minutes in the league this season, playing 2,970 minutes of football so far.
Prediction
Newcastle will play their usual pressing game but I can see that suiting Leicester more if they sit in and soak up the pressure.
If the Foxes can do that then even if Newcastle find a goal, I can’t see them stopping a home win here.
Prediction: Leicester City 2-1 Newcastle United
Jake predicts: Leicester City 2-1 Newcastle United
Result: Leicester City 0-1 Newcastle United