In a packed Saturday in the Premier League, Manchester City will host Leicester City and will hope to bounce back after dropping points against Burnley last time out. Pep Guardiola’s side have been hit by injuries of late but still have the quality to beat any Premier League side.
Leicester themselves have hit a bit of a bad patch having failed to win in any of their last two games. Their away form, in particular, is a cause for concern as they last won away from the King Power Stadium in December when they beat Southampton, Claude Puel’s former side.
Leicester have managed to win two out of the last five games against City, though, and the counter-attacking setup could potentially pose problems to Pep Guardiola’s side.
Though Man City have managed to breach defences this season, Leicester have the pace on the counter and that’s essentially how the Foxes beat Man City last when he two squared off on December 2016.
Team news
Manchester City are still without a left-back as Benjamin Mendy has been nursing an injury for quite a while now. Fabian Delph isn’t available either, so we could see Danilo starting as a makeshift left-back. Guardiola has a Champions League encounter away at Basel to worry about, so we could see Ilkay Gundogan on the bench and Yaya Toure starting in place of the German.
Guardiola would have liked to rest Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero, but injuries to David Silva and Gabriel Jesus means he can’t rotate too much.
Leicester will once again be without Riyad Mahrez who’s head isn’t right at the moment according to manager Claude Puel. The Algerian’s supposed move to Man City on deadline day fell through.
Wes Morgan is unavailable owing to a hamstring issue and Shinji Okazaki has a dodgy knee, so he won’t feature either. Kelechi Iheanacho is expected to start once again alongside Jamie Vardy in the Japanese’s absence.
Probable lineups
Manchester City probable lineup: Ederson; Danilo, Laporte, Otamendi, Walker; Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Toure; Sterling, Aguero, Bernardo Silva
Leicester City probable lineup: Schmeichel; Chilwell, Dragovic, Maguire, Simpson; Iborra, Ndidi, Albrighton, Gray; Iheanacho, Vardy
Likely outcome and odds
Man City have a 13-point lead at the top of the table, so they can be forgiven to take the foot off the gas tomorrow. We expect the game to end in a draw considering City’s defence will have a makeshift left-back and a new signing in Laporte who will need some time to acclimatise to the Premier League.
Both teams to score would be the safest wager, though…
Man City 1/5
Draw 11/2
Leicester 12/1
