Manchester City vs Leicester City
Date: 10/02/18
K/O: 17:30pm
Venue: The Etihad
TV: Sky Sports Main Event
Pep Guardiola said this week that City have “run out of players”, but forward Gabriel Jesus is close to fitness after a month layoff and could return to the matchday squad for the visit of Leicester on Saturday.
Midfielder David Silva could also return as City look to return to winning ways. The Spaniard missed last Saturday’s draw with Burnley, but looks set to be named amongst the substitutes.
Aymeric Laporte will be hopeful of a recall in the centre of defence, though Oleksandr Zinchenko may again be benched in favour of Danilo after an impressive goalscoring outing against the Clarets.
Leicester look set to be without enigmatic midfielder Riyad Mahrez once again, as the Algerian continues to sulk after failing to force through a January transfer.
The Foxes have failed to win either of their two matches since Mahrez submitted a transfer request, and Shinji Okazaki, Demarai Gray, Ben Chilwell and Daniel Amartey all could return as Claude Puel searches for a winning formula without him.
Wes Morgan remains sidelined, but Leicester are at full strength otherwise.
This looks set to be a fascinating battle of patient possession against lightning counter attacking play.
City have spurned chances in all of their recent fixtures, including a glaring miss from Raheem Sterling which proved costly against Burnley. They cannot afford to be complacent against a lethal Leicester front line.
Jamie Vardy has been in excellent form this season; reminiscent of the Foxes title winning campaign two years ago, having bagged 12 league goals already so far. He will be quietly hopeful that City’s unconvincing defence will concede at least one good chance to him on Saturday.
Prediction: Manchester City 2 Leicester City 1
Written by Sam Hanys.
