Leicester City welcome Newcastle United to the King Power Stadium in Friday Night Football in the Premier League.
Victory would move third-placed Leicester five points clear of Chelsea who sit fourth, whereas Newcastle can go 13th with a win and seal survival if Fulham lose to Burnley on Monday evening.
Team News
Jonny Evans is a doubt for Leicester after suffering a heel injury in last Friday’s 1-1 draw at Southampton.
Wes Morgan (back), James Justin and Harvey Barnes (both knee) remain absent.
Newcastle will be without Fabian Schar after the defender was sent off at the end of Sunday’s loss to Arsenal for a late foul on Gabriel Martinelli.
Elliott Anderson (hip) is unlikely to feature and is set to join Jamaal Lascelles (foot), Ryan Fraser (groin), Isaac Hayden and Karl Darlow (both knee) on sidelines.
Stat Attack
- Leicester have lost just one of their last five league meetings against Newcastle (W4, L1).
- Newcastle have won two of their last five trips to the King Power Stadium (W2, L3).
- Leicester’s James Maddison has scored in his last two appearances against Newcastle (W2), albeit away at St James’ Park instead of at King Power Stadium.
- Joe Willock has scored in his last two appearances for Newcastle prior to missing last Sunday’s loss to Arsenal through ineligibility to face his parent club.
- Kelechi Iheanacho has scored five goals in three of Leicester’s last four home games.
Prediction
Having endured a rough run of fixtures in recent weeks, Leicester certainly looked slightly tired in their draw at Southampton despite having a 11-men advantage for over 80 minutes, which was evident in their slow start and poor finishing.
Newcastle meanwhile don’t have a fine record against Arsenal yet that was no excuse for how they effectively rolled over for much of their defeat to the Gunners, although they did threaten well on the attack but indecision and slowness cost them.
On that note, I really do hope that we see some improvement here from both teams but if Leicester can get on the front foot quickly now that they should be fully refreshed, I think that they should have enough to find the win here.
Prediction: Leicester 2-1 Newcastle
Result: Leicester 2-4 Newcastle
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