League Two’s Walsall chase a Fourth Round cupset as the Saddlers host Leicester City at Banks’s Stadium in 2022-23 FA Cup.
Victory would see Walsall reach the Fifth Round for the first time in 20 years, whilst Leicester are looking to avoid exiting at this stage for a second consecutive season.
Team News
Yann Songo’o could be in contention for his Walsall debut after he joined on loan from Bradford City this week.
Manny Monthe (suspension) and Jack Earing (knee) are both ruled out.
Leicester could hand defender, Victor Kristiansen his club debut after the Danish U21 international missed the Foxes’ 2-2 draw in Premier League against Brighton, due to a lack of match fitness due to Copenhagen having only begun pre-season in recent weeks.
Ayoze Perez (muscle) and Dennis Praet (rib/hip) could both return if pass late fitness tests.
James Justin, Ricardo Pereira (both Achilles), Jonny Evans (calf), Wilfried Ndidi (muscle), Boubakary Soumare (hamstring) and Ryan Bertrand (knee) all remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Walsall host Leicester at Bank’s Stadium in a 12:30pm GMT kick-off on Saturday 28 January, with live TV coverage in UK available on BBC Red Button and BBC iPlayer.
Stat Attack
- Walsall won their only previous FA Cup meeting against Leicester by a 1-0 result back in January 1978 at this very same stage of the competition, exactly 45 years ago to the same match date.
- Leicester lost their only previous FA Cup visit to Walsall by 1-0 result as mentioned above.
- This is only the second-ever cup meeting between Walsall and Leicester in all cup competitions.
- Walsall have won just one of three previous FA Cup ties against Premier League opposition this century (W1, L2), although Leicester are their first top-flight opponents not from London this millenium.
- Leicester have lost just one of their last five FA Cup ties away to lower-league opposition (W4, L1).
Prediction
Despite having lost just one of their last 13 matches in all competitions against largely similar quality opposition, Walsall now have to step it up a notch and cut out their defensive fragilities if they are to really cause Leicester some issues.
The Saddlers though haven’t played for a fortnight after their two league games were postponed due to a frozen pitch, so pitch conditions could certainly play a part in the result because Walsall players will need to quickly find their feet after two weeks out of competitive action.
Leicester meanwhile aren’t exactly in fine form with their last two wins coming against lower league opposition, so I do expect them to come out and try to build upon their morale-boosting draw against Brighton last weekend.
Brendan Rogers’ Foxes though did make hard work of their Third Round win against Gillingham and I do fear that it could be more of the same here, especially if Walsall go for the deep defence into counter-attack approach.
I though can’t help but feel that Leicester won’t repeat their Third Round performance here if they play like they did last weekend, although Walsall should definitely make them work super-hard for the win.
Prediction: Walsall 1-2 Leicester
Result: Walsall 0-1 Leicester
Leave a Reply