Leicester City will be eager to get back to winning ways on Tuesday night against Brighton at the King Power Stadium, hoping to cement their spot in third place before a crunch match against Chelsea in the FA Cup next weekend.
A 1-1 draw on Saturday against Watford was not how Brendan Rodgers’ men hoped to return to action. Late drama saw a thunderbolt by left-back Ben Chilwell cancelled out by a 93rd-minute bicycle kick by Craig Dawson – both special goals.
Brighton goes into the game with high spirits after a crucial late win over Arsenal on Saturday, lifting them five points off the relegation zone. A Lewis Dunk scramble over the line and a delicate finish by Neal Maupay in stoppage time meant that all three points were kept on the Sussex coast, despite a fine curling effort into the top corner by Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe.
Previous meetings between these two sides have seen Leicester City claiming 4 wins out of the 5 played, with the seagulls managing to claim 1 point off Leicester last season. This does not give much confidence to Brighton, however, with the current situation there is no reason why they cannot make it two wins in two since the restart.
Jamie Vardy is the obvious threat for the Foxes, with 19 goals so far in the campaign, leading Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang by two goals. He will be eager to get back up to speed, particularly as the midlands side have only picked up two wins in the last nine league matches.
Team News
Brendan Rodgers could make changes to the starting XI, with Demarai Gray and Kelechi Iheanacho looking for starts. Dennis Praet and Ayoze Perez are available once again, however, Ricardo Pereira will not see another minute of this season’s campaign after suffering a knee injury.
Aaron Mooy suffered an ankle injury against the Gunners on Saturday which rules him out on Tuesday, however, boss Graham Potter is likely to keep the team relatively similar to Saturdays’ victory.
Score Prediction
Although the result did not go their way on the weekend, I think Leicester will be too strong and skilful for the Sussex side and take the three points.
Match Preview is written by Seb Rowland.