Newcastle United look to bounce back from two consecutive defeats as they take on Leicester City at St James’ Park.
A win could temporarily lift Newcastle to ninth whilst Leicester will cut their gap to league leaders – Liverpool down to ten points for at least 29 hours.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesFlorian Lejeune is a doubt for Newcastle as he continues to rebuild full match fitness, having played three games in seven days after only recently returning from a knee injury.
Fabian Schar and Joelinton are also doubts after complaining of respective hamstring and calf injuries, following Saturday’s defeat to Everton.
Ki Sung-Yeung (illness), Ciaran Clark (calf) and Paul Dummett (groin) however are expected to feature, whilst Matt Ritchie (ankle) is unlikely to be risked ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup trip to Rochdale.
Allan Saint-Maximin (hamstring) and Jamaal Lascelles (heel) are both ruled out.
Leicester could be without Ricardo Pereira after the full back missed Saturday’s win at West Ham with a tight hamstring)
Jamie Vardy could however return after also missing that match for personal reasons, whilst Matty James (calf) is a long-term absentee.
Stat Attack
- Newcastle have taken just six points out of a possible 24 from their last eight league meetings with Leicester (W2, L6).
- Leicester have won on each of their last four trips to St James’ Park in all competitions, although they drew 1-1 in August in the Carabao Cup before winning on penalties.
- Jamie Vardy has scored in two of Leicester’s last three league visits to Newcastle, with both goals coming in the first-half.
- Newcastle have made a current league-high 81 saves this season, with all 81 saves coming from Martin Dubravka in 20 appearances.
- The Magpies are yet to earn a penalty in this Premier League fixture, whereas Leicester have won and scored two penalties against them.
Prediction
Newcastle produced a much better performance on Saturday but marginal defensive errors prevented them taking a point against Everton, despite a magnificent display to prevent the Toffees from running riot.
Leicester also improved considerably with nine changes which showed in their attacking attitude, so hopefully Brendan Rogers will again rotate his squad because this is a huge game that they need to win if want to put pressure on Liverpool.
I therefore can see an open end-to-end game between two attacking teams but if Joelinton is out, Newcastle are going to need to be clinical otherwise this could be a comfortable Foxes win.
Prediction: Newcastle United 0-2 Leicester City
Result: Newcastle United 0-3 Leicester City
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