Leicester City meet Birmingham City in a Midlands derby at the King Power Stadium.
Victory will lift Leicester up to third and above their visitors ahead of Saturday’s action, whilst Birmingham can go top with a win.
Team News
Stephy Mavididi is available for Leicester after he missed their victory at Charlton due to a minor muscle injury.
Victor Kristiansen (knock), Bobby De Cordova Reid (unspecified) and Harry Souttar (Achilles) are still ruled out.
Birmingham could be without striker, Jay Stansfield after he suffered an ankle injury during their Carabao Cup defeat against Port Vale in midweek.
Scott Wright remains ruled out with a knee injury.
When is Kick-Off?
Leicester host Birmingham at King Power Stadium on Friday 29 August at 8pm BST, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Football in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Leicester are unbeaten in their last seven league meetings against Birmingham City (W5, D2).
- Birmingham are winless in their last four league visits to Leicester (D1, L3).
- Three of Leicester’s five goals against Birmingham in their last two league meetings came via Stephy Mavididi in the 2023-24 season, with the other two goals scored by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall who since left the Foxes.
- None of Leicester’s midfielders are yet to score a league goal this season.
- Two of Birmingham’s four league goals in their opening three matches were scored by Jay Stansfield.
Prediction
Having dug in defensively against Charlton with a clinical early second-half winner, Leicester seem to be slowly adapting well to Marti Cifuentes’ style of play but I would like to see them now come out and try to show more flair than be primarily possession-based.
Birmingham meanwhile have settled nicely back into the Championship and their Carabao Cup loss might actually be a blessing, because it allows them to focus solely on the league until January and they will have several regulars back in the starting line-up after they were rested in midweek.
Leicester though do seem to have the upper hand in this fixture but if Birmingham can play as well as they’ve done lately, I can see them nicking a point.
Prediction: Leicester 1-1 Birmingham
Result: Leicester 2-0 Birmingham