Following their impressive 4-1 win against Leeds United on Monday night, Leicester City are back in UEFA Europa League action, as they face S.C. Braga at the King Power Stadium on Thursday night
Having won their past four matches in all competitions, including their first two matches in the Europa League, the Foxes are now in a good run of form and will want to come out of this one with another three points, against the team that will arguably be the toughest team Leicester have faced in the Europa League so far.
Braga are in good form themselves. They have won both of their opening games in Group G, beating both AEK Athens and FC Zorya Luhansk by the same score line as the Foxes did (2-1 and 3-0 respectively).
Leicester City:
With fixtures coming quick and fast, Brendan Rodgers needs to keep all his players fresh and in top condition. Bringing players in and out of the starting 11 is something that he has done quite regularly this season and the same could be expected tomorrow.
Whilst Wilfred Ndidi (Abductor), Caglar Soyuncu (Abductor), Ricardo Pereira (ACL) and Timothy Castagne (Hamstring) remain the main long-term absentees; Jonny Evans could potentially feature against Braga after suffering a back problem in the match against Arsenal.
After a terrific performance last week against Athens, Wes Morgan could start again in defence alongside Wesley Fofana and Christian Fuchs, who has been putting in some top-notch performances of late.
Marc Albrighton is another player who has been gaining a lot of plaudits recently and could start again on Thursday in his new right wing-back position.
After starting the game against Leeds on the bench and finally getting up to match speed, James Maddison could start against Braga like he did against Athens.
Predicted XI: Schmeichel; Albrighton, Fofana, Morgan, Fuchs, Justin: Mendy, Tielemans; Under, Maddison, Vardy
The Opposition:
S.C. Braga are a Portuguese team who play in the Primeira Liga and are currently third in the league after six games.
They are managed by Portuguese coach Carlos Carvalhal who has previously managed in England having spells with Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City. This is his first season in charge of Braga having joined in July.
A player Leicester need to watch out for is Argentinian attacking midfielder Nicolás Gaitán. Gaitán joined Braga in the summer and is most known in Portugal for his stint with Benfica where he stayed there between 2010-2016 making 152 appearances before joining Atlético Madrid. The tricky midfielder will most probably cause problems for the Foxes and needs to be kept quiet.
Predicted XI: Matheus; Silva, Carmo, Viana; Moura, Castro, Fransergio, Esgaio; Horta, Gaitán, Paulinho
Prediction:
This is definitely the Foxes toughest group game out of them all and will be desperate to win to go clear at the top of the group.
Braga won’t be pushovers though and expect them to give it everything they’ve got. However, the Foxes will have high expectations of themselves if they are to go far in this competition so they will definitely not sit back.
This game has the potential to be a very fast and exciting game.
3-2 Leicester.