Leicester City welcome Crystal Palace to the King Power Stadium as both teams look to consolidate a top-ten Premier League finish.
Both teams enter this match locked on 37 points apiece in tenth and ninth positions respectively, meaning that victory will see Leicester leapfrog Palace into ninth, whereas a win would put Patrick Vieira’s Eagles three points clear of the Foxes.
Team News
Caglar Soyuncu and Ayoze Perez could return for Leicester after the pair missed Thursday’s goalless first leg draw against PSV in Europa Conference League through illness.
Boubakary Soumare (adductor) is also set to be in contention but Danny Ward, Ryan Bertrand, Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy (all knee) remain absent.
Crystal Palace have no fresh injury concerns after defeating Arsenal last Monday evening as Michael Olise is a doubt as he continues to recover from a foot injury.
Nathan Ferguson remains absent after suffering a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Stat Attack
- Leicester are unbeaten in their last five meetings against Crystal Palace (W3, D2).
- Crystal Palace have won two of their last six visits to Leicester (W2, L4).
- Kelechi Iheanacho has scored in his last two appearances for Leicester against Palace (W1, D1).
- Patson Daka and James Maddison are the only two players to have scored twice at home for Leicester in 2022 so far across five matches at the King Power Stadium.
- Jean-Philippe Mateta has scored the opening goal in each of Palace’s last two matches (W2).
Prediction
Having held PSV to a scrappy goalless draw in the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League Quarter-Final on Thursday, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we see Leicester make some changes here in order to try and get a win to boost morale and build on recent consistency.
Palace meanwhile were absolutely clinically ruthless in their win over Arsenal because they played with aggressive attacking and varied passes, which is something that Leicester’s defence will need to be wary of if they’re to keep a clean sheet.
In fact, I am intrigued by this mid-table fixture because whilst Leicester might want to prioritise Europe, they will want to salvage a decent league finish so expect them to fight for the win whereas Palace next face Chelsea in the FA Cup so will need a win to give them momentum.
A score draw therefore feels like a fair result to predict but this game will come down to tactics and overall performance.
Prediction: Leicester 1-1 Crystal Palace
Result: Leicester 2-1 Crystal Palace
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