Chelsea FC visits Leicester City tomorrow in a mid-week Premier League clash that has all sorts of top four implications. The Blues won the West London Derby on Saturday, but it was about an unimpressive a road win as you’ll ever find. Chelsea won at Fulham, 1-0, but they left it very late, and they only broke through after playing against 10 men for the second half.
If they put forth another effort like that at the King Power, they get beaten, and beaten soundly.
Chelsea FC at Leicester City FYIs
Kick off: 8:15pm GMT, Tue Jan 19, King Power Stadium
Chelsea Starting XI Prediction: go here
Premier League Position: Chelsea 7th, 29 pts Leicester City 3rd, 35 pts
Premier League Form Guide: Chelsea WLDLW, Leicester City WWDDW
Team news for both sides
Former Leicester man N’Golo Kante is now back from suspension, and that means Blues boss Frank Lampard now has a fully fit squad to select from for this match. That’s because defenders Reece James and Andreas Christensen have now recovered from injury.
Turning to Leicester, their face of the franchise, Jamie Vardy, hobbled off during the final few minutes of their 2-0 win at Southampton FC on the weekend. It’s a hip issue, but it probably isn’t severe enough to keep him out of action here, because manager Brendan Rodgers is optimistic about his scoring machine’s availability.
That would mean Dennis Praet would stand alone as the Foxes’ only injury absentee.
Prediction: Leicester City 2, Chelsea 1
In a match-up of two sides with nearly fully fit squads, we’re going with Leicester, because they have just more looked the part than Chelsea this season. They also have the home field advantage, for what that’s worth, given the lack of supporters allowed into the facility, due to covid protocols.
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.