Leicester City's recent loss to Liverpool means that the Foxes tether on twelfth place with a point separating them from both Aston Villa in eleventh and Crystal Palace in thirteenth.
And the route forward gets no easier for Leicester as they face a West Ham side that are desperate to break into the top four spots and remain there until the end of the season.
The last time the two clubs met seems like an age ago now, being only the second game of the Premier League season, and it was a statement win from the Hammers. Michail Antonio was on form that night, scoring twice and establishing himself as one of the hottest players in the league at the time.
As for Leicester, it was an early sign of things to come as West Ham have taken their place as top four contenders, but Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers will certainly be looking to rectify the previous result on Sunday.
Team News...
Brendan Rodgers has alluded to the idea that Wilfred Ndidi will continue his role as a centre back ahead of more established players in that position such as Çağlar Söyüncü after the Nigerian partnered Daniel Amartey in the centre of defence against Liverpool on Thursday night.
When asked in a recent press conference about if Ndidi’s qualities in centre back outweigh his qualities in central defensive midfield (CDM), Brendan Rodgers had this to say:
"100 per cent. It’s an area of the field that’s so important. Any good team I’ve ever had, the centre-halves are absolutely critical."
If Ndidi fulfilling a role at centre back continues, then that opens up a spot in the midfield for a CDM. There are a selection of players who can play that role, such as Papy Mendy, who has returned to Leicester's Premier League squad after a successful time playing for Senegal in the AFCON, but it's most likely that it will be Boubakary Soumaré, who started Leicester's last game against Liverpool.
However, it's in the West Ham camp that the most noise has been made about how David Moyes is going to pick his team ahead of the trip to the King Power Stadium, more specifically noise around a certain Kurt Zouma.
David Moyes made the decision to start Kurt Zouma in their last match against Watford, which was met with substantial amounts of criticism. It's not confirmed whether Zouma will start against Leicester but it's highly likely that will be the case.
The Managers Have Their Say...
In their pre-match press conferences, both Brendan Rodgers and David Moyes commented on the challenge of facing each other once again. Here is what they both had to say on the matter.
Leicester City Manager Brendan Rodgers: "It's a great opportunity for us. Good Challenge. We had a tough night up there early on in the season when we lost a man early, they played well and they've got some really good players.
“However, we come off the back of a much better performance tonight [against Liverpool] if not result and now we've got our supporters behind us at the weekend and hopefully push us to get a good performance in as well."
West Ham United Manager David Moyes: "They’ve [Leicester City] done unbelievably well over the years. They’re FA Cup winners and not too long ago they were League winners. They are the sort of club you look at because of the way they’ve built it. You look at the facilities, the way they went about their recruitment, so I have to say that over the years they have been a very good model for teams trying to improve such as West Ham, which we’re trying to do.
“They’re maybe not in the best moment right now, but I still think they are a very strong team. They have an excellent manager and it will be a tough game for us."
Predicted Lineups:
Leicester City: Kasper Schmeichel, James Justin, Daniel Amartey, Wilfred N'Didi, Luke Thomas, Boubakary Soumare, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Harvey Barnes, Ademola Lookman, Kelechi Iheanacho.
West Ham United: Łukasz Fabiański, Vladimír Coufal, Kurt Zouma, Craig Dawson, Aaron Cresswell, Declan Rice, Tomáš Souček, Jarrod Bowen, Pablo Fornals, Saïd Benrahma, Michail Antonio.
Players To Watch:
Boubakary Soumare
Big things were expected of Frenchman Boubakary Soumare when he joined Leicester City in the 2021 summer transfer window from Lille for £18million after winning the Ligue 1 title, a title charge which we played a large part in.
The partnership of a league title winner with a top four chasing side like Leicester seemed like a match made in heaven, and a transfer that would propel the Foxes up the Premier League table and finally allow them to acquire Champions League football for the first time since their incredible title winning season in 2016.
But, the transfer hasn't materialised into a success just yet with the Liverpool game being the only Premier League match he has started in 2022. When asked about his recent performances in his most recent press conference, Brendan Rodgers had this to say:
"This year for him is about adapting to the pace of the Premier League. He’s got real good qualities. He needs to play quicker. That’s the Premier League. Playing in France, you get more time on the ball and can build the game through. He’s still adjusting. He hasn’t played a great deal recently, so coming in and playing here at Anfield was always going to be tough for him.
“But I think that’s the adaptation he has to make and he will make. That ability to play with fewer touches and play with speed, that’s the improvement he needs to make. He’s still so young, he’s got good physicality, and hopefully over the next couple of years he will prove to be a good member of the squad.”
Jarrod Bowen
The former Hull City winger had simply been spectacular this season, being by far West Ham's best player. At the time of writing Bowen's scored eight Premier League goals, equalling his tally from last season, but it's been his creativity that has shone the brightest this season, acquiring nine assists, almost doubling the number of assists he had last season.
The way he's broken into this West Ham team and taken games by the scruff of the neck has been nothing short of exceptional, and fans of both teams will be expecting another stellar performance from him at The King Power.
How To Watch...
Leicester City vs West Ham will be available to watch on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event when it kicks off at 16:30PM (GMT).