Third meets fourth as Leicester City play host to Chelsea at the King Power Stadium, in a pivotal match for the top four hopes of both teams.
Leicester will stay third no matter the result whereas Chelsea can reduce the gap to five points with victory.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesWes Morgan is ruled out for Leicester through illness as Brendan Rogers prepares to again rotate his squad after their midweek Carabao Cup exit at Aston Villa.
Nampalys Mendy (knee), Matty James (fitness) and Daniel Amartey (ankle) are also sidelined.
Chelsea could welcome Reece James back from a knee injury which has kept him sidelined for their last two games.
Christian Pulisic, Oliver Giroud (both groin), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Achilles), Tammy Abraham (ankle) and Marco Van Ginkel (knee) are still sidelined.
Form
Leicester enter this match off the back of four wins from their last seven league matches, although they have kept just one clean sheet in their last five home matches in all competitions.
Chelsea have suffered just two losses in their last seven league games (W3, D2, L2), but haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last four away outings across all competitions since beating Tottenham 2-0 just before Christmas.
Stat Attack
- Leicester have lost just one of their last five meetings against Chelsea in all competitions (W1, D3, L1).
- Chelsea have won two of their last three trips to the King Power Stadium in all competitions by a 2-1 result (W2, D1).
- Leicester have taken five points from their last three league games against Chelsea, which is their best three Premeir League match run against the Blues since a run of three consecutive draws between April 1999 – January 2000.
- Both teams have earned and scored one penalty each in 27 previous Premier League clashes.
- Leicester’s Ricardo Pereira is the first Premier League player this season to make 100+ tackles, having produced 103 tackles in 23 league appearances.
Prediction
Chelsea need to start raising their game because I do have to question their top four credentials if they lose here, especially with Manchester United next up after the winter break.
Leicester however haven’t been impressive in recent weeks with teams looking to have sussed out the Foxes’ game plan, which is a huge concern coming into this game because Chelsea will come here and try the counter-attack approach.
I therefore am expecting another tough battle like their previous clash at Stamford Bridge in August, so a draw would be a fair result here.
Prediction: Leicester City 1-1 Chelsea
Result: Leicester 2-2 Chelsea