Can City Beat Hot Spurs ?

BY SIMON MACK

Leicester City vs Tottenham Hotspur

Saturday 21^st September 2019  12:30pm

King Power Stadium

The foxes play host to London’s Tottenham Hotspur this Saturday lunchtime in a game that both will have intentions to pick up maximum points.

For the home side the game moved for live television coverage will give them an opportunity to get back on track after defeat up at old Trafford last weekend in a match many had said they should have collected at least a point.

For spurs both the date and time of this tie is not ideal having made a long trip to Athens mid-week for a Champions League match up again Greek giants Olympiakos. The game at the Karaiskaki Stadium saw the Londoners get themselves 2 in front only for the home side to salvage a point, and the long road trip is not ideal given this lunchtime away date with city just 72 hours later.

For Tottenham Ryan Sessegnon remains on the side lines, but full backs Danny Rose and Serge Aurier could find themselves back in the mix after resting up whilst their team mates headed south.  Korean striker Son started Wednesday night’s game from the bench and he might well be found on the starting team sheet for this top 6 tie.

Last time out in the league Tottenham demolished fellow London side Crystal Palace 4-0 at home with Son bagging 2 of spurs abundant first half tally, and whilst the emphatic score line may have surprised even the most die-hard of the Tottenham faithful, prior to that the ever passionate North London derby had ended with honours even and that was preceded by a home defeat at the hands of Newcastle Utd.

Whilst sitting in 3^rd place currently in the table many have felt that this season’s spurs offering to date has been somewhat without the same purpose, drive and passion compared to recent seasons, and this tricky tie against a talented foxes side gives them a stern test of their resolve to go one better this time out and maintain their 3^rd place birth.

For Leicester there is no doubt that last weekend’s first defeat of the season at the hands of Manchester Utd was a disappointment. The foxes had gone into the game tipped by many to get at least something, but the early skirmishes fell in favour of the home side, and city boss Brendan Rodgers will be eager to return to winning form.

Demari Gray was a shock selection from the start up at Old Trafford, and it will be a huge surprise for many city fans to see that again this time around. Whilst Rodgers injury woes are no worse than a minor knock for full back Ben Chilwell, the Leicester gaffer’s quandaries revolve more around whom in his squad to select from the first whistle rather than who is available.

Leicester’s last home game (3-1 victory vs Bournemouth) saw Marc Albrighton and Harvey Barnes offer the foxes some genuine width in midfield and it seems a popular choice amongst many fans that this team selection be repeated for Saturday’s early kick off.

Rodgers will be aware that the last time spurs won on their travels in league action was at Fulham back in January but at the same time they have also won 4 out of their last 5 against the foxes, and a win this weekend would mark 4 leagues wins in a row against their hosts.

The topic on many city fans lips in the pubs around King Power Stadium pre match will be Brendan Rodgers ability to shake things up when his principle game plan is not bearing fruit. There’s no doubt to date city’s season has mostly gone positively, but 5 games in Rodger’s tactics at times have been brilliant and at other times regarded one dimensional. Last time out against united city’s midfield spluttered to afford lone striker Jamie Vardy the opportunities he thrives upon to fire the foxes into the game, and it could be said that the match was screaming out for a shake-up in the style of play the foxes adopted in order to force things to a head, but despite those sentiments the foxes continued to plough the same furrow until the final whistle and came home without reward.

Does this point toward retention by Rodgers in what he thinks is right or rather a lack within both the system and the personnel available within the Leicester squad to mix it up when the original pre match plans just aren’t working out?

Meanwhile down in Monaco city’s £30m striker Islam Slimani is 3 goals from 3 and provided a superb assist last weekend against Marseille. Could he have been the big man to aim for when the midfield draw blank? It’s these types of decisions that play a part in defining both a club’s and manger’s season, and Rodgers preoccupation will be all about getting the formula right this time around.

The likelihood will be that Perez will slot back into the first eleven for Demari Gray as a minimum change to last week’s starters. The other debate will centre around the defensive midfielders in the city line up, and whether both Choudhury and Ndidi are required as selected by Rodgers last week. Last time around at home it was solely Ndidi with the insurance policy duties, and it will depend on Rodger’s perception of spurs midfield threat as to whether he goes for both or just one.

The foxes faithful would be delighted to see Youri Tielemans shine though and start to recreate his performances of last season during his highly successful loan spell, and if Perez does get a start likewise city fans will be hoping to see the flashes of promise he had shown during pre-season.

Leicester City possible starting line-up:

Schmeichel, Ricardo, Evans, Soyuncu, Chilwell, Ndidi, Tielemans, Barnes, Perez, Maddison, Vardy

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting line-up:

Lloris, Aurier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose, Sissoko, Ndombele, Moura, Alli, Son, Kane