After a hectic festive period, the Leicester City now turn their attention to starting the new year off well against Newcastle United at St James Park.
The Magpies come into this game after drawing with league leaders Liverpool, having managed to frustrate the Reds by holding their shape really well, meaning they couldn’t find a way through. Steve Bruce will look to do a similar thing on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Leicester nicked a point against Crystal Palace via Harvey Barnes who carried on his red-hot form this season. Brendan Rodgers is expected to revert to a reinforced side after he altered the squad by making seven changes.
Here is how we expect both sides to line-up for the clash at St. James’ Park:
Newcastle United
Newcastle will monitor the illness of Paul Dummett ahead of Sunday’s clash.
Isaac Hayden is banned after he picked up his fifth yellow card this season. The game will come too soon for Ryan Fraser (groin injury) and Jamaal Lascelles for their return.
Steve Bruce believes that his captain Lascelles will recover from coronavirus before Allan Saint-Maximin but they will both miss the fixture this weekend.
Some positive news came Steve Bruce's way on Wednesday as their summer signing and top goal scorer, Callum Wilson, returned from his ankle injury.
Newcastle have played a five at the back in their previous two games against Liverpool and Manchester City and they could go for an unchanged back five for a third time on Sunday.
Starting XI: Darlow; Yedlin, Fernadez, Schar, Clark, Ritchie; Murphy, Shelvey, Matthew Longstaff, Almiron; Wilson.
Leicester City
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers made a total of seven changes in their last game against Crystal Palace due to the quick turnaround from the Manchester United game being just 48 hours before.
Key players such as Jamie Vardy, James Maddison, and Youri Tielemans are likely to be in the starting team for the game. Defender Caglar Soyuncu could also make a return into the starting 11, he was an unused substitute on Monday. Rodgers will want to put his best side out for the contest as he looks to get his first three points of the year.
Leicester will need to check on the fitness of creative midfielder James Maddison, but Brendan Rodgers is expected to recall the majority of his key players at Newcastle.
Wesley Fofana was removed from the squad against Crystal Palace with a knee injury, but has been in training and could feature.
Cengiz Under (hamstring) and Ricardo Pereira (groin) remain absent.
Starting XI: Schmeichel; Fofana, Evans, Soyuncu; Justin, Tielemans, Ndidi, Castagne; Maddison, Barnes, Vardy.
Prediction
Newcastle need a reaction after being winless in their past five Premier League contests as they could find themselves descending in the Premier League table but the point against Liverpool will give them a boost of confidence going into the tie. It will be tough for the home side especially with the Foxes having terrific form on the road, only losing one game this season.
In this game, Leicester could just have that little more quality to beat Newcastle and collect the three points.
1-3 Leicester.