Leicester City are back in Premier League action on Sunday afternoon as they face bottom club Sheffield United at the King Power Stadium.
The Foxes are coming into this one on the back of their much needed 2-1 win away at Brighton and Hove Albion last week and will be confident of securing another three points against a side in disarray and destined for the Championship.
On Friday afternoon a number of media sources announced that Blades’ manager Chris Wilder had been sacked following the club’s poor run this season. However, no statement from the club and cancelled press conferences has led to confusion amongst fans.
It is unsure whether Wilder, who took over the Blades in 2016 when they were in League One will be in the dugout for the game against Leicester.
They come into this one on the back of a disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Southampton and will need to get some sort of result here, if they’re to put together one final push to stay up this season.
Team News
The victory against Brighton rewarded the Foxes with a well-deserved week-long break between games. This is the first time that Leicester have had a week to prepare for a game since the beginning of January.
It has allowed Brendan Rodgers to get some players back fit, and with all the injuries the Foxes have suffered this season they will be delighted to welcome back Dennis Praet, Ayoze Perez and Jonny Evans who have all recovered from injuries.
James Maddison, Wes Morgan, Cengiz Under and Harvey Barnes are the only absentees for the game on Sunday.
Maddison is not expected to return before the international break at the end of the month as he recovers from an ongoing hip problem.
The Blades have a few injury problems of their own. They’re without John Egan, Chris Basham, Jack Robinson, Jack O’Connell and Sander Berge.
Veteran defender Phil Jagielka is available though after serving a one match suspension.
Leicester XI: Schmeichel; Ricardo, Fofana, Evans, Soyuncu, Castagne; Ndidi, Choudhury, Tielemans; Iheanacho, Vardy.
Sheffield United XI: Ramsdale; Baldock, Ampadu, Bryan; Bogle, Lundstram, Norwood, Fleck, Stevens; Brewster, McGoldrick.
Last Meeting
The two clubs last met at Bramall Lane at the beginning of December in what was an exciting tie between the two sides.
The away side deservedly took the lead after 24 minutes when a deflected shot from Marc Albrighton fell to the feet of Perez who smashed it home.
However, the score was level again two mintues later when Oli McBurnie rose highest from a corner to head home past Kasper Schmeichel for his first goal in 15 appearances.
The Blades who before the game had only picked up one point in their opening 10 games, frustrated Leicester throughout the whole match and looked to be picking up their second point of the season until up stepped Jamie Vardy.
Having earlier struck the bar in the first half, the boyhood Sheffield Wednesday fan was played through in the 90th minute by Maddison for a one on one against Aaron Ramsdale slotting home into the bottom corner before running over and breaking the corner flag in his celebration.
Ones to Watch
Despite having only scored once in his last 14 games in all competitions, Vardy only needs one chance to return to his goalscoring form.
He has either scored or got an assist in all three Premier League appearances against the Blades, including the winner in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
At the age of 34, Vardy is coming towards the end of his career but still offers a huge danger to any side in the league, and against a side who can’t stop conceding at the minute, this could be the perfect chance for him to get back to his best.
David McGoldrick
Goals have been a major problem for Sheffield this year and they have only scored 16 goals in 28 league games, six of them have come from David McGoldrick.
The 33-year-old will need to be on his best form against the Foxes if they’re to come away with anything from this game.
His strength and hold up play could be key to containing the physicality of the Leicester back line.
If he can somehow manage to get a goal on Sunday, it could be crucial in kickstarting a comeback Sheffield so desperately need.
Pre-Match Thoughts
Speaking before the match Brendan Rodgers spoke about improvements to how VAR is used.
He said: “It’s not VAR. It’s the implementation of it, and the people using it. We had it last week with a possible penalty [vs Brighton] that could have cost us. When it goes to VAR, you can see clearly it’s a penalty”
He also spoke highly of Sheffield United and how they go into every game despite their struggles.
He added: “They will never give up. They’ve had a number of key players that have been out, and that makes a difference to performance. But they’ve gone into every game and given everything”
How to Watch
The game is available to watch on Sky Sports Premier League with build-up starting from 13:00pm with a kick-off time of 14:00pm.
Alternatively, you can follow the live-text updates on the VAVEL website and the Leicester City VAVEL Twitter page.