Leicester City welcome Aston Villa to the King Power Stadium after making an unbeaten start to the Premier League season under new boss Claudio Ranieri. Two wins and two draws leave the Foxes third in the table behind Manchester City and Crystal Palace.
After ending last season with seven wins in nine games, Leicester have continued their good form into the new season. Continuity has been key for the East Midlands side, with the majority of the new summer signings starting on the bench in the opening four matches.
Out of the six summer signings, Japanese striker Shinji Okazaki has performed impressively. His work-rate and link-up play with Jamie Vardy has been promising in the opening four matches of the season. With the likes of Gokhan Inler, N’Golo Kante and Christian Fuchs on the bench against Bournemouth last time out, Leicester’s strength in depth makes them serious contenders for a top half finish.
What can you expect from Leicester?
With the Foxes still unbeaten under Claudio Ranieri, you can expect an attacking, high-intensity game with strong pressing from the strikers Vardy and Okazaki. Leicester play with a lot of pace through Mahrez and Schlupp in wide area’s so fast counter-attacks rather than possession based attacks should be expected.
Key Player: Riyad Mahrez
Currently the Premier League’s joint top scorer with Callum Wilson and Bafétimbi Gomis, Mahrez is our danger man. His pace and trickery will cause the Aston Villa defence problems throughout the 90 minutes. His ability to cut inside on his left foot will always be a goal-scoring threat.
Predicted Line-Up
I expect Ranieri to switch back to a 4-4-2 after starting with a 4-5-1 in the first-half against Bournemouth, which proved to be disastrous. King and Drinkwater were poor against Bournemouth thus I would expect Inler to make his first start on Sunday.
Schmeichel, De Laet, Huth, Morgan, Schlupp, Albrighton, Inler, Kante, Mahrez, Vardy, Okazaki.
Prediction
Both matches last season were very close, albeit lacking overall quality. I expect the game on Sunday to be very attacking from both teams however, I think Leicester will maintain their unbeaten run under Claudio Ranieri by winning the game and taking all three points.
Leicester 2-1 Aston Villa
