Norwich City head into this game looking for their first league points of the season as Brendan Rodger’s Foxes come to Carrow Road on Saturday afternoon for a 3pm kick off.
Daniel Farke’s team have had a tough start to life back in the top flight of English football with a home game against Liverpool and trip to Manchester City ending in defeat in the first two League games of the season. On Tuesday night, they won 6-0 against Championship side Bournemouth at home in the Carabao Cup with new signings Josh Sargent and Christos Tzolis both scoring braces.
Embed from Getty Images- photo credit Stephen Pond
- Team News
In terms of injuries, Norwich have Polish winger missing Przemyslaw Placheta because COVID and right back Sam Byram is out because of a long term injury. Bali Mumba is out with a knee injury after being on the wrong end of a nasty challenge against Bournemouth and there are also doubts about Christos Tzolis (calf) and Josh Sargent (glute) with the latter pair due to be assessed in the next 24 hours.
Leicester have a few injuries to contend with. The good news for them is that left back Ryan Bertrand is now available after testing positive for Covid-19 and missing their first two games of the new campaign- a 1-0 win at Wolves and the 4-1 defeat at West Ham on Monday. However central defender Jonny Evans is out with a foot injury, Wesley Fofana is out with a broken leg and right back James Justin has an ACL injury. Midfielder Nampalys Mendy has a groin injury and Jannik Vestergaard has a knee injury while Ayoze Perez is suspended after getting shown a red card in the Foxes 4-1 defeat at West Ham United on Monday evening.
- Predicted lineups:
Norwich City: Krul, Giannoulis, Gibson, Hanley, Aarons, McLean, Gilmour, Lees- Melou, Cantwell, Rashica, Pukki
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Ricardo, Amarty, Soyuncu, Bertrand, Ndidi, Tielemans, Soumare, Iheanacho, Vardy, Daka
- Ones to watch: Christos Tzolis is the one to watch for Norwich. Signed for almost £10 million from PAOK in the summer, the Greek made his first start on Tuesday night against Bournemouth and ran riot scoring two goals and getting two assists as the Canaries hammered their Championship opposition. Question marks remain as to how long he’ll play as he gets used to life in England but he is more than capable of making an impact.
Another interesting battle developing in the Norwich team is who starts up front. Teemu Pukki is a bona-fide Club legend with 67 goals in 128 appearances but after struggling for fitness and form and with the arrival of Josh Sargent in the summer from German Club Werder Bremen his place is being questioned.
One to look out for Leicester is twenty four year old attacking midfielder James Maddison. The Coventry born man joined the Foxes from Norwich and has been the subject of transfer speculation from Arsenal this summer. Despite that, Maddison has started both of Leicester’s opening games and has played 79 percent of all possible minutes. Yet to register a goal or an assist this season, he will be looking to haunt his former Club this weekend.
- Previous meetings:
Norwich’s last win in the Premier League came in the last meeting with Leicester City- a Jamal Lewis goal gave them a win against the Foxes on the 28th of February 2020.
The two sides are fairly evenly matched with Norwich winning 19, Leicester winning 15 and 12 draws in league football. Overall (including league and cup)- Leicester edge it with 22 wins, Norwich 21 and 13 draws.
There is no way to watch the game live other than being at Carrow Road. Kick-off is at 3pm on Saturday 28th August.