Leicester City vs Aston Villa
Date: 14/12/2019
K/O: 15.00
Venue: King Power Stadium
Referee: Andy Madley.
Second-placed Leicester City host second-bottom Norwich City in yet another top-vs-bottom fixture for the Foxes, who would secure their second place with a win before a hectic schedule around Christmas and New years that sees them play against Manchester City and Liverpool in consecutive games.
Leicester come into this fixture in the best form the club has ever been in – literally. No Foxes side have ever won eight consecutive top-flight games before Rodgers achieved the feat last weekend, and they only won seven in a row back in the 1960s.
With relegation-flirting Norwich coming up this weekend, the trend looks set to continue and Leicester fans will expect them to break history once again and set a novel nine-game winning streak. But this fixture may be more important than just one for the history books.
The Foxes have slid comfortably into second place and have been slowly pulling away from last years’ champions Manchester City. They’ve opened up a six-point gap between them and the Citizens, who have lost twice as many games and conceded almost twice as many goals as the Foxes this season. Better still, Leicester hold a nine point lead over 4th place City and a gargantuan 14-point lead over 5th place Manchester United. They look pretty comfortable right where they are – although a quick look at their fixtures suggests a storm may be on the horizon.
In the space of five days, the Foxes play the two sides currently their biggest contenders: they play Manchester City away on the 21st, and then Liverpool at home on the 26th. These will be huge games for a team who are in fantastic form, but Leicester have not been overly convincing against ‘big-six’ opponents this year. Wins against Arsenal and Tottenham (for which they needed a bit of VAR luck), and a draw against Chelsea away (that they should have won), are marred by deserved losses against Liverpool and Manchester United.
Brendan Rodgers’ team do seem to be a side that thrive on the form they’re in and a slip up here against Norwich, before coming up against a Manchester City squad who are always dangerous, could damage not only their hopes of retaining 2nd place – but the top four spot they’ve worked so hard to achieve.
After a spectacular rise from the Championship last season, many had Norwich City pegged for an impressive Premier League campaign and almost-assured safety. But the harsh reality of the top-flight has so far overwhelmed the Canaries, who have struggled defensively.
Having conceded the second-highest amount of goals (34) in the league (Southampton have conceded 35), Daniel Farke has found that the expansive style his side were so fluent in during their promotion-winning from the Championship is simply a recipe for disaster against sides able to punish even the most minuscule of defensive errors or pockets of space.
Manager Farke has gone some way to fixing this by stylistic changes with the inclusion of more defensively oriented midfielders. But he has admittedly been undone by the slew of injuries the Canaries have suffered, primarily in defence, with first choice and best defensive option Christian Zimmermann only returning three games ago and immediately boosting the defensive unit.
One area that Norwich have done well in, however, is games against big teams. In the season’s first game against European champions Liverpool, Norwich looked a constant danger and were unlucky not to score more than they did.
This was soon followed by an impressive near defeat to Chelsea, an emphatic victory over champions Manchester City and, more recently, a draw (that would have been a win but for some Leno heroics) against Arsenal. Leicester fit the bill, and there could be a surprise in store if the Foxes underestimate a team that are more than capable of upsets.
Team News
Leicester have no injuries to speak of, with Brendan Rodgers announcing his side were ‘fit and ready.’
Norwich’s defensive woes seem to be slowly coming to an end, with only Grant Hanley, Timm Klose, and Josip Drmic still out with injury.
Predicted Starting XIs:
Leicester City (4-1-4-1): Schmeichel; Ricardo, Evans, Soyuncu, Chilwell; Ndidi; Perez, Praet, Maddison, Barnes; Vardy.
Norwich (4-2-3-1): Krul; Aarons, Zimmermann, Godfrey, Byram; Vrancic, Tettey; Cantwell, Mclean, Hernández; Pukki.
Prediction: Leicester 3-1 Norwich City
An impressive performance last week against Aston Villa showed Leicester are more than capable than blowing away relegation-level sides, and it is likely to be no different this time around. A goal for each side in the first half will lead onto a second-half dominated by the Foxes, who will secure the game with two goals.
