Leicester City vs Manchester City – English Premier League – Preview

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Sreya

Leicester City welcome Manchester City to King Power Stadium as the Foxes aim to bounce back from their second English Premier League defeat of the season. Claudio Ranieri’s side lost to Liverpool by a solitary goal this past weekend and are at the risk of being overtaken by Arsenal at the Premier League summit.

Should Leicester City wish to head into the new year being at the first position in the standings, they must defeat Manchester City who are coming off a morale-boosting 4-1 win over Sunderland. Manuel Pellegrini’s side are on the fourth position with thirty-five points, three behind their opponents tomorrow.

Team News

Daniel Drinkwater, Matthew James and Jeffrey Schlupp are the confirmed absentees for Ranieri’s side. The Leicester City manager may also rest his star forwards, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, the former playing with an illness on Saturday while the latter is battling fatigue.

Fernando and Pablo Zabaleta have recovered from their respected injuries, but are unlikely to feature tomorrow. Samir Nasri and Vincent Kompany continue to remain sidelined. Sergio Aguero, who was rested against Sunderland owing to a knock he had picked up last week, may return to the starting lineup.

Leicester City Possible Starting Lineup: Kasper Schmeichel, Danny Simpson, Wes Morgan, Robert Huth, Christian Fuchs, Riayd Mahrez, Andy King, N’Golo Kante, Marc Albrighton, Leonardo Ulloa, Jamie Vardy.

Manchester City Possible Starting Lineup: Joe Hart, Bacary Sagna, Nicolas Otamendi, Elaquim Mangala, Gael Clichy, Fabian Delph, Yaya Toure, Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero.

Thoughts From Both Camps

“It is in our mind, we have to recover. It is a question of forgetting this result, of accepting it and moving on. We knew we had to lose eventually, so we must forget. It is how we react mentally now.”

Claudio Ranieri, Leicester City.

“We must consider Leicester not thinking that they lost on Saturday and could collapse, but as a team that will have options to be fighting for the title until the end. With that mentality we must try to play the game.

They are top of the table because they deserve to be. They have important players in a very good moment with high performance.”

– Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Leicester City have not come out on top in any of their previous six meetings with Manchester City, losing four of those. However, Leicester City are unbeaten in ten of their last eleven home Premier League games while Pellegrini’s side have not won any of their last five away matches.

Manchester City are the favorites to win, with 2-1 being the most probable scoreline.