Preview: Leicester City vs Liverpool
By Paul Drake
Liverpool are re-energized and refocused after a break and some warm weather training in Spain. Their next opponent is last seasons champions, Leicester City.
Matchday 26 is almost over but not without Liverpool vs Leicester City rounding out the already schedule matches. We won’t know how everything plays out until after the League Cup is complete, which has postponed Manchester United and Manchester City matches this week.
Enough talk, let’s get down to bass-tacks. The Reds are coming off a strong showing against Tottenham and will look to continue that success against Leicester City. It should be an exciting match for Reds fans, but may not be a great one to watch for the Foxes.
Liverpool Analysis
Liverpool travels to King Power Stadium to take on last seasons champions, but Leicester City have not won back to back matches at home against Liverpool since 1972. That’s right, if you don’t remember the Foxes took Liverpool down 2-0 last season at home on their run to the Premier League title.
This year is a different story, Liverpool have already beat Leicester City, 4-1 at Anfield in September. In addition, the Reds have not swept the Foxes in a season since 2001-2002. I believe this will change by the end of the match, tomorrow.
Overall, Leicester City is not in a good place for this match, having just fired Claudio Ranieri and Liverpool have returning to their high-octane form against Tottenham. I think Liverpool will look to exploit the Foxes horrible defense: a -12 performance rating, which is the third lowest of any Premier League squad this season.
Liverpool should look to capitalize on the lower left and right sides of the goal. Leicester has conceded 43 goals this season with 33% and 35% of their goals passing in the lower-left and lower-right areas of the goal.
The Reds, as mentioned by Sadio Mane recently, will seek to continue in their success that they found against Tottenham. Liverpool are well rested and prepared due to their warm weather training in La Manga, Spain, where, based on reports the training was very successful.
This should be a glorious match to watch and keep an eye out for the magic of Sadio Mane. He should be out in full force. Why? Because he has been involved in more Liverpool goals than any other player this season!
Related Story: Sadio Mane means business against Leicester City.
Know Your Enemy: Leicester City
Leicester City are floundering, they are having mild success in the Champions League but are a club on the verge of relegation in the Premier League. This motivated Leicester City’s owners to sack Ranieri: Leicester are shaken up, unsure of themselves, and lost.
The Foxes have attempted to steal their way to glory again this year but have neglected to produce a formidable side against their domestic brothers. Their only bright spot has been the Jamie Vardy, who has scored three goals against Liverpool in their most recent matches.
Jamie Vardy is really the only consistent lethal weapon for the Foxes, which isn’t saying much. He has made 22 appearances this season in the Premier League, scoring 5 goals and creating 17 chances. But, Vardy has only scored one goal in Leicesters past 18 Premier League matches.
In addition, Vardy is currently is the 49th best forward according to Squawka, with a performance rating of just 33; that is a 480 point difference between Vardy and Liverpool’s Firmino, using the same performance scale.
Leicester have not had great success against Liverpool, ever! Look for that to continue on Monday. I don’t expect much competition from the Foxes, but you never know, let’s hope the Reds don’t make this a close game and run away with it early.
Starting XI
After the 2-0 win against Tottenham, I believe Klopp will stick with what works. Plus, having Lovren sidelined by injury likely won’t change the back-line against Leicester City.
Mignolet
Clyne, Levia, Matip, Milner
Lallana, *Can, Wjnaldum
Mane, Firmino, Coutinho
Injury Concerns: Lovren, Kalvan, Grujic, and Sturridge
*Update: Henderson is out!*
Predictions
Liverpool 3 – 1 Leicester City
LIV Goals: Mane, Coutinho, Lallana
LEI Goals: Vardy
How to Watch
Monday, February 27 – 3:00pm ET / 8:00pm GMT
TV: NBC Sports App, DIRECTV NOW and Sling Blue
All statistical information from Squawka.com