Leicester City host Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon in their final game of the Premier League season as they look to try and secure a top-four finish.
Losing to Chelsea on Tuesday evening meant that Leicester’s Champions League hopes are no longer in their hands heading into the weekend. However, the Foxes will still be hopeful they can better the Blues or Liverpool’s result on the final day.
To help push Brendan Rodgers’ side over the line, 8,000 home fans will be allowed to be at the King Power Stadium and this could play a huge part in the result.
Tottenham welcomed their fans back into their stadium on Wednesday, but it had far from the desired effect. Spurs lost 2-1 to Aston Villa, with supporters booing the team off the pitch. Their season has been underwhelming and it is looking likely that they will miss out on a place in the Europa League.
Team News
Leicester will be without centre-back Jonny Evans on the final day of the season as he is ruled out with a heel injury. Cengiz Under may also be absent with an injury in what would be his final game for the Foxes before returning to Roma.
Wes Morgan could feature after announcing that he will retire after Sunday’s game and Christian Fuchs might be included in the squad for his final game at the club.
Tottenham will still be without left-back Ben Davies who has only just returned to light training. Japhet Tanganga was withdrawn on a stretcher last time out and will be sidelined with an ankle ligament injury.
Predicted Line-Ups
Leicester City: Schmeichel; Castagne, Fofana, Soyuncu; Albrighton, Ndidi, Tielemans, Thomas; Maddison, Iheanacho, Vardy
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris; Aurier, Alderweireld, Dier, Reguilon; Ndombele, Hojbjerg; Bale, Alli, Son; Kane
Last Meeting
When the two teams met earlier in the season, Leicester came away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium victorious.
Jamie Vardy gave the Foxes the lead four minutes into first-half stoppage time. The striker finished confidently from the penalty spot after Wesley Fofana was fouled by Serge Aurier in the box.
The lead was then doubled by James Maddison who latched onto a long ball from James Justin and drilled an effort into the bottom corner. A VAR check followed and ruled Maddison to be offside, keeping the score at 1-0.
However, only ten minutes later, Leicester did grab another. Marc Albrighton’s cross found Vardy at the back post and his header was deflected into his own net by Toby Alderweireld.
This win moved Rodgers’ side up to second in the Premier League table heading into the busy Christmas period.
Ones to watch
Newly crowned Players and Supporters’ Player of the Season, Youri Tielemans, has played a major part in Leicester’s season. The Belgian is in superb form and after his FA Cup-winning goal last weekend, he will be looking to step up when his teams needs him once again.
Tielemans has built a superb partnership with Wilfred Ndidi and he is the main creative spark in the middle for the Foxes who will be needing to score some goals if they want to secure a top-four finish.
It seems obvious, but more than ever Harry Kane will be the main threat for Tottenham. This may well be Kane’s final game for Spurs after expressing his desire to leave the club.
England’s captain already boasts a great scoring record at the King Power Stadium, but he will be aiming to end on a high and is expected to cause no end of problems for the Foxes defence who will be missing the experience of Evans.
Pre-match thoughts
Rodgers spoke to the media ahead of the game and offered some perspective on the position his side are in heading into the season finale on Sunday.
The Leicester boss said: “Our focus is on finishing the season strong. Players have had an outstanding season. The staff, everyone, has had to work so hard in this pandemic with the fixture schedule.
"It’s been very tough for us, but we’ve managed to be competitive, and in our last game of the season, we’re fighting with two of Europe’s biggest clubs. We’ve got European football again next season, which is a target, and the FA Cup for the first time in the history of the Football Club.
"If I ask myself the question: 'Have we improved?' We most certainly have. Let’s hope we can finish this season with a win at the weekend."
Interim Tottenham manager Ryan Mason also spoke in his pre-match press conference and discussed his team’s chances of qualifying for Europe.
“It is not where we want to be, it's no secret, we have said that, everyone has said that. It has been a disappointing campaign, but we have to try and get a positive result at the weekend and see what happens from there.”
Mason also hinted at a possible rebuild at the club over the summer break after a disappointing season.
He said: "I think things will happen in the summer because there's a managerial change that needs to happen. That will happen and to echo the chairman's words we need to get back to our DNA."
How to watch
Leicester City host Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday 23rd May and it will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.