Leicester City welcome Crystal Palace to the King Power Stadium in a crucial clash at the foot of the table.
Victory would see Leicester climb out of the relegation zone for a few hours, whilst Palace could go eighth with a win if Brentford fail to beat Brighton on Friday evening.
Team News
Timothy Castagne is a doubt for Leicester after suffering an eye injury in their loss at Bournemouth last weekend.
Nampalys Mendy (knee) and Jonny Evans (calf) face late fitness checks but Wilfried Ndidi (hamstring), Ryan Bertrand (knee) and Ricardo Pereira (Achilles) remain absent.
Palace have no fresh injury concerns to report as Jack Butland (hand), Nathaniel Clyne (ankle), Chris Richards (leg), Nathan Ferguson (foot) and James McArthur (groin) all remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Leicester are unbeaten in their last six meetings against Crystal Palace (W4, D2).
- Palace have won two of their last seven visits to Leicester (W2, L5).
- Wilfried Zaha has scored in each of his last two appearances for Palace away at Leicester.
- Brendan Rogers’ Foxes have scored first in three of their four home matches this season, from which they gained four points across those three particular games when they scored the opening goal (W1, D1, L1).
- Palace are winless in their last five away matches in the Premier League (D3, L2).
Prediction
After a clinical win over Nottingham Forest in their last home game a fortnight ago, Leicester seemed to take that reignited confidence to Bournemouth last weekend in terms of attack, yet their defence was a game of two halves with a costly defensive implosion in the second-half.
Rogers therefore needs to really try and find a way to ensure that his defence can play solidly for 90 minutes because these inconsistent performances are their downfall, whilst also letting down a decent attack who deserve more support from defence amidst their own issues in the final touch.
Palace meanwhile struggled initially to handle Leeds’ high-pressing energy and movement but they managed to stick it out, which paid off because they slowly grew into the game and ultimately just had that clinical edge to complete a comeback win.
Patrick Vieira though should really look to deploy an aggressive attacking style with his Palace team because Leicester’s defence is clearly there for the taking, if they are challenged hard early on but the Eagles have struggled away to Leicester in recent meetings.
I though do feel that Leicester’s attack will have enough about them to cause issues for Palace but the hosts must get on the front foot first, otherwise I can see the visitors winning this game if they can get the first goal.
Prediction: Leicester 1-2 Crystal Palace
Result: Leicester 0-0 Crystal Palace
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