Chelsea to drop more points at the King Power
Club football resumes after another international break in the Barclays Premier League at lunchtime on Saturday at the King Power Stadium. Leicester City will be hoping to find some semblance of form to arrest being further and further away from the top four, whilst leaders Chelsea will want to maintain a small cushion over their title rivals. Read our preview here:
Madd world
More consistency is required in both defence and midfield under Brendan Rodgers' auspices this season, even taking into account the injuries suffered in the rearguard. Çaglar Söyüncü in particular continues to look a shadow of the centre back who formed such a formidable partnership with Wesley Fofana, and he just hasn't fostered anything remotely like the same understanding with the much more experienced Jonny Evans. Wilfred Ndidi is back at least, having returned to action at the start of November - he will have to do without deep-lying playmaker Youri Tielemans however; the Belgian schemer is out for a fortnight at the bare minimum. James Justin, another long-term absentee, will be eased back into contention by getting some minutes with the U23s, and Marc Albrighton is another doubt for the weekend. Ademola Lookman could therefore start on the right of an attacking midfield trio, should there be a reversion to only having Jamie Vardy up top. Elsewhere, James Maddison will need to show the kind of vim and vigour that made him a target for more established members of the usual top six in the division. He has been wholly disappointing in 2021/2022, and though he is not to blame for his side's frailties in defence, his lack of goalscoring contribution continues to undermine efforts to outscore the opposition.
The Loftus-Cheek of it
Thomas Tuchel will be hoping the break in domestic action has helped his troops shrug off an equally disappointing and surprising 1-1 draw at home to Burnley two weeks ago, and at the very least on current form, they ought to find Leicester's back four substantially more accommodating than the Clarets'. The highly impressive Reece James will hope to retain his place on the right-hand side of the defence, whilst on the opposite flank, Ben Chilwell can be more assured of his spot, given Marcos Alonso has only just returned to training. Mateo Kovačić is also out, so there is scope for another start for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, perhaps dovetailing with Callum Hudson-Odoi behind the hard-working Kai Havertz (Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner are also missing). The 25 year old is much better when he is aggressive with his runs with and without the ball, progressing the midfield high up the pitch. He will have to do battle with Ndidi, and how he performs in that duel will go a long way to staying in the first team picture.
Rodgers' dodge
Even with that small stumble, the Blues lead the way at the top of the tree by three points, and haven't found scoring too difficult, despite the aforementioned striker shortage. Rodgers has dismissed the links to the Manchester United job, and he is not at present at the peak of his powers with Leicester performing indifferently for almost the entire campaign to date. Even with Vardy feeding on relative scraps, the evergreen striker always seems to make the most of scant opportunities, so odds of 3.60 for a draw with Parimatch look favourable.
