Leicester City come up against Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur this Sunday as they look to return to winning ways after losing to Everton last time out.
The Foxes failed to impress last weekend and missed out on an opportunity to move up to second in the table. Spurs also missed out on a chance to go to the top of the Premier League, losing to Liverpool at Anfield.
A tight game is expected in London on Sunday and both managers will be hopeful that their team selection and tactics will give them the edge to take the three points.
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham have impressed so far this season and currently sit second in the table. Mourinho has been able to get the best out of his key players and they are excelling.
Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son have created a superb partnership that has dominated the Premier League. Son is the league’s joint-top goalscorer with 11 goals in 13 games and Kane is close behind with nine of his own.
Both players have also assisted each other and their teammates plenty of times. Son has four assists and Kane has a huge 10 assists already this season, giving him 19 goal contributions in only 13 games.
Alongside their exhilarating attacking players, Spurs also have the joint least goals conceded this season. They have only conceded 12 goals so far and have looked extremely solid with a backline of Serge Aurier, Toby Alderweireld, Eric Dier, and Sergio Reguilon.
As well as this, Mourinho has found his warrior in the midfield in Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. This has hugely helped them to win their key battles in the middle, allowing players such as Giovanni Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele to thrive.
Although, Spurs haven’t won either of their last two games and will be hoping to bounce back this weekend. They will need Kane to continue his brilliant record against Leicester and score another goal against the Foxes.
Predicted Line-Up: Lloris, Aurier, Dier, Alderweireld, Reguilon, Hojbjerg, Lo Celso, Ndombele, Bergwijn, Son, Kane.
Leicester City
Leicester have been consistently inconsistent his season, with a mixture of great and poor results so far. Wins away at Manchester City and Arsenal have been marred by losses at home to Aston Villa, West Ham, and Fulham.
In the past week, the Foxes have performed at both ends of the entertainment spectrum. A scintillating attacking show in the first half against Brighton gave them a 3-0 win but on Wednesday against Everton, it was the opposite, with not much attacking intent being shown throughout the game.
Against Brighton, Brendan Rodgers switched the formation from a 3-4-2-1 to a 4-2-3-1 and as soon as this change was made, Leicester looked phenomenal. But when they started in this system against Everton, they couldn’t seem to settle and performed sloppily.
This is a conundrum that needs to be solved for Rodgers’ side, who are expected to start with three at the back for Sunday’s game. However, this system has seemed to be at its most effective when playing away at one of the ‘Big Six’.
Kasper Schmeichel will start in goal with a likely back three of Wesley Fofana, Jonny Evans, and Christian Fuchs ahead of him. James Justin will start in one wing-back position with either Marc Albrighton or the returning Timothy Castagne on the other side.
Wilfred Ndidi, Youri Tielemans will form the midfield and James Maddison will be partnered by one of Harvey Barnes, Cengiz Under, and Ayoze Perez behind Jamie Vardy in the attack.
Predicted Line-Up: Schmeichel, Fofana, Evans, Fuchs, Justin, Ndidi, Tielemans, Albrighton, Maddison, Barnes, Vardy.
Prediction
Tottenham will be favourites to win this game, with the form of Kane and Son likely to be too much for a Leicester side that can’t seem to find any consistent form.
Although one area that the Foxes have excelled in is performing extremely well away at the bigger clubs, sitting back, and catching them on the counter. This could be how they pick up a result in North London.
But with the way Mourinho sets his team up, it will be difficult to break them down and Spurs will also be dangerous on the counter-attack. Tottenham should have too much for the visitors but only if they can cope with the constant threat of a Vardy breakaway goal.