Tottenham Hotspur hosts Leicester City tomorrow in what is no doubt the most significant Premier League match-up of this specific weekend. This fixture features the second (Spurs) and third place (Leicester) sides in the table, so there are massive top four implications on the line in this one.
It’s also a battle of two brand name head coaches, Tottenham’s Jose Mourino and Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers, although this manager head-to-head series is decidedly one-sided.
Tottenham Hotspur vs Leicester City FYIs
Kickoff: 2:15 pm GMT Sun Dec 20, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Tottenham Team News, Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
TV/Streaming: NBCSN/NBCSports.com
Tottenham LDWDW Leicester LWWLL
Odd: Spurs win +105, draw +240, Leicester City win +255
When Mourinho was in charge of Chelsea, he beat Rodgers’ Liverpool four times and drew twice. In the lone meeting of Mourinho at Spurs and Rodgers at Leicester, the north London side triumphed 3-2.
In terms of team news for Leicester, Caglar Soyuncu (groin) and Ricardo Pereira (groin) are out while Timothy Castagne (thigh) and Daniel Amartey (thigh) are both doubtful.
Leicester City Starting XI Prediction
Schmeichel; Fofana, Evans, Fuchs; Castagne, Ndidi, Tielemans, Justin; Maddison, Barnes; Vardy
Both sides are coming off losses in midweek, and both managers feel they deserved to win. Tottenham fell at Liverpool on Wednesday night while the Foxes were bested by Everton.
“It’s one of those where you drive home, and you can’t understand how you’ve lost the game,” said Rodgers of the setback.
“It was just two disappointing goals from our perspective.”
Prediction: Tottenham 2, Leicester 2
We’e going with a stalemare on this one, but either side getting the W would not surprise us in the least.
“I think across the league every team is searching for that consistency, but what’s important is you can’t let it derail you,” Rodgers added. “You’ve got to press the reset button again.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.