Title chasing Manchester City meet relegation battling Leicester City in a huge Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium.
Victory would see Man City move to within three points of league leaders, Arsenal, whilst Leicester can climb out of the relegation zone with a win if Everton fail to defeat Fulham elsewhere.
Team News
Man City have no fresh injury concerns to report after their midweek win against Bayern Munich in this season’s Champions League.
Phil Foden (appendix) remains absent.
Leicester will welcome midfielder, Kieran Dewsbury-Hall back from an one-match ban, which forced him to miss their defeat against Bournemouth last weekend.
Ricardo Pereira and Harvey Barnes are both ruled out with hamstring injuries suffered against the Cherries last weekend.
Youri Tielemans (ankle) could return but Ryan Bertrand (knee) and James Justin (Achilles) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Man City face Leicester at Etihad Stadium in a 5:30pm BST kick-off on Saturday 15 April, live on Sky Sports in UK.
Stat Attack
- Man City have lost just one of their last five Premier League meetings against Leicester (W4, L1).
- Leicester have won just one of their last five league visits to Man City (W1, L5), which came in a 5-2 win in September 2020.
- City’s Riyad Mahrez has scored in each of his last three home appearances against his former team – Leicester (W2, L1).
- Erling Haaland has been involved in 35 league goals for Man City this season, having produced 30 goals and delivered five assists.
- James Maddison has been booked in two of Leicester’s last three away games (D1, L2).
Prediction
With a comfortable first-leg lead in their Champions League Quarter-Final tie against Bayern Munich, Man City definitely can afford to take this league match seriously if they continue to display the dominance and control which has been their key to wins in their last three games.
Leicester meanwhile are at risk of being cut adrift in the fight for survival and could begin this game sat rock-bottom if Southampton win in mid-afternoon, which could make this game a must-win as they begin temporary life under Dean Smith’s reins.
Smith however faces a huge fight on his hands to instil harder attacking intensity after the Foxes delivered a soft attack-minded effort in their loss to Bournemouth, which won’t be acceptable here given the huge step up in quality opposition.
In fact, I don’t see Leicester getting a managerial bounce especially with Ricardo Pereira and Barnes both now absent, meaning that it is probably a case of minimising their losing margins in terms of goal difference.
Prediction: Manchester City 2-0 Leicester City
Result: Manchester City 3-1 Leicester City
Leave a Reply