Swansea City are heading to the King Power Stadium on Sunday to take on a hungry Leicester City.
The Swans come into this match with the possibility of delivering a serious blow to the Foxes' chances of winning the Barclays Premier League. The fairy tale story of Leicester is nearly complete and all they need is eight points out of their last four matches to left the trophy.
Leicester though, will be without their top scorer Jaime Vardy for this match. Vardy is serving his suspension for picking up his second yellow card in the 2-2 home draw against West Ham United last Sunday. However, even without the English international the Jacks still have a slim chance of leaving with any points.
How Swansea pull out the upset
Their best way of potentially winning or forcing Leicester to a draw is simple they have to score. The Foxes have shown before that they can beat a club even without having that much time on the ball. Or they can build up at a very slow pace and attack when they want to. The best counter to that is by scoring.
However, scoring has been not been easy for the Swans this season. The Welsh club has scored 34 goals in 34 matches played thus far in the BPL. Only three other clubs have scored less then Swansea this campaign. Watford F.C. (33 goals), West Bromwich Albion (31 goals) and already relegated Aston Villa with 23. At times if Gylfi Sigurdsson does not score for the Jacks then it almost seems like no one else will.
Swansea’s head coach Francesco Guidolin will have to find away to put that stat behind his players. Andre Ayew, Alberto Paloschi, Bafetimbi Gomis and Modou Barrow need to make their chances count on Sunday.
The Foxes defense can be broken down but it will take a complete team effort to do it. Plus the midfield of the Jacks will need to have control of the ball and now allow the possession game of Leicester to get going.
Jefferson Montero has to continue running down the wings with the ball. His ability to send in crosses can create confusion in the box for his players to pounce on.
Creating doubt for the Foxes
However, the main reason why Swansea has to score first and a second goal is to quiet the crowd. After the Foxes failed to beat West Ham at home last weekend, the title race with Tottenham Hotspurs has come back to life.
Swansea taking the lead or tying the match might make every person in Leicester begin to panic. That might result with the home side making a mistake due to the pressure and the weight of the BPL title hanging over their head. However, this only happens if the Jacks score first.
A draw keeps the Swans in the BPL
Besides playing the role as spoiler the Swans know that if they leave King Power Stadium with a point their spot in the Premier League will be safe. Swansea sit in 14th place with 40 points and with three games left after this match.
Sunderland AFC (18th place) has now just three games left and they only have 30 points, there is no way the Black Cats can catch up. However, 19th Newcastle United still has four matches left this season and they have 29 points.
The only way the Magpies avoid relegation is by wining out and hoping that other clubs fail to pick up results. If Newcastle loses or draws their next match then regardless of the outcome against Leicester the Swans will be playing in the BPL once more next season.
The Foxes will be calm
Leicester will not come out blazing by taking seven shots in the first 10 minutes of the match. Instead they will move the ball around the pitch forcing the Swans to open up. In result, that will give Shinji Okaszaki or Leonardo Ulloa a chance to provide the home club the important breakthrough goal.
However, Leicester head coach Claudio Ranieri knows that the absences of Vardy will not be felt that much, if Riyad Mahrez ends his goal scoring streak. The Italian manager knows that if the Algerian international is able to snap out of his funk that a victory will be almost guaranteed for the Foxes. Mahrez must be happy to see Swansea coming to town, since he recorded a hat-trick the last time the two clubs met at Liberty Stadium early in December.
Prediction: Leicester City 2-1 Swansea City