Gillingham seek to cause a giant killing against Leicester City at Priestfield Stadium in the Third Round of 2022-23 FA Cup.
Victory would see Gillingham advance to the Fourth Round for the first time since 2018-19 season, whilst Leicester are looking to avoid a second Third Round exit in seven seasons.
Team News
Elkan Baggot is ruled out for Gillingham after he suffered a recurrence of an ankle injury in warm-up for their defeat at Stevenage on Bank Holiday Monday.
Leicester could be without Kieran Dewsbury-Hall after he missed their midweek Premier League loss to Fulham with a gluteal injury suffered during warm-up.
Boubakary Soumare, Patson Daka (both hamstring) and Dennis Praet (hip) are also doubts, with Soumare and Dewsbury-Hall unlikely to be risked as manager, Brendan Rogers considers rotating his squad.
James Justin, Ricardo Pereira (both Achilles), Jonny Evans (calf), James Maddison and Ryan Bertrand (both knee) remain absent.
When is kick-off?
The match will take place at 12:30pm GMT on Saturday 7 January and viewers based in UK can watch live on BBC One if not in attendance at match, after the British broadcaster added the game as a late addition to their two previous broadcast picks.
Stat Attack
- This is Gillingham’s first-ever FA Cup meeting against Leicester, although the Gills lost their only previous cup clash against the Foxes 3-1 in 1963-64 League Cup.
- Leicester have won just one of two previous away visits to Gillingham, albeit in league competitions (W1, L1).
- Gillingham have won three of 12 previous FA Cup ties against Premier League opposition this century. (W3, D1, L8)
- Leicester have lost just one of their last six FA Cup ties against lower-league opposition (W5, L1), which came away at Nottingham Forest last season.
- Each of Leicester’s last two FA Cup matches ended in 4-1 results, as the Foxes beat Watford in Third Round then lost at Nottingham Forest in Fourth Round last season.
Prediction
Inconsistency has been the story of Gillingham’s season so far but these Gills definitely can’t be underestimated, after two strong defensive performances against Leicester’s fellow top-flight rivals – Brentford and Wolves in the League Cup.
Manager, Neil Harris will also be buoyed by the fact that Gillingham have lost their last three matches by a single goal margin, although they will need to produce a huge yet clinical performance if they to replicate his former team – Millwall who beat the Foxes in Fifth Round of 2016-17 FA Cup.
Leicester though really should take this game seriously because they really do need a good cup run to salvage something from a difficult season, especially after suffering a narrow defeat to Fulham in midweek and have a trip to Newcastle to come on Tuesday evening in the League Cup.
In fact, I do anticipate a full-strength Leicester team with a few fringe players included which should be enough to beat Gillingham, if the Foxes come out and play their best football against a team struggling badly in League Two.
Prediction: Gillingham 0-2 Leicester
Result: Gillingham 0-1 Leicester
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