Leicester City will look to bounce back with a win following their 1-0 home loss to Newcastle United last weekend as they travel to face West Ham United.
The loss last weekend was a tough one to swallow for Leicester as they dominated possession, but the defensive shape of their opponents made it difficult for City to create any chances.
With most of the other sides around them in the table losing it could have been a big three points for Leicester to increase the gap in seventh place.
But the failure to earn the win makes it a difficult task for Brendan Rodgers to keep his side in that spot come the end of the season.
West Ham’s defeat to Manchester United last time out made it three in a row for the hosts, who will be looking to turn around their recent form.
Here’s how we predict Leicester to line-up:
GK: Kasper Schmeichel
Schmeichel will be certain to keep his place in the side for the trip to West Ham. He was beaten by a good header against Newcastle, but wasn’t really challenged other than that.
RB: Ricardo Pereira
Ricardo has enjoyed a fantastic debut season in the Premier League and has consistently been one of Leicester’s top performers.
CB: Jonny Evans
Evans could come back into the side to replace Wes Morgan. Evans might have not been risked last week after recovering from a hip injury and the Leicester captain being in good form. But Morgan could be a fault for Newcastle’s goal last week, after failing to beat Ayoze Perez to a header. Evans has been Leicester best centre-back for most of the season and should come back into the side this week.
CB: Harry Maguire
Maguire is Leicester’s first choice centre-back. Having a ball playing defender like Maguire suits Rodgers’ possession based system.
LB: Ben Chilwell
Chillwell, although having a poor game against Newcastle, has been a much improved player this season. His attacking runs down the left have created plenty of chances for Leicester this season.
CDM: Wilfred Ndidi
Even though his performance last weekend wasn’t up to his usual standards it’s hard to see Ndidi being dropped anytime soon.
CM: James Maddison
Maddison completes the creative midfield tandem with Tielemans, the pair work off of each other brilliantly. Maddison has been one of the top creators in Europe this season and will be certain to keep his place this week.
CM: Youri Tielemans
The massive creative threat that Tielemans possesses is vital to the side going forwards. Like most of the team, he didn’t have his best game against Newcastle, but still showed his creative spark with a couple of brilliant passes.
RW: Marc Albrighton
Rodgers said in his press conference on Thursday that Albrighton isn’t ready to play 90 minutes yet. But a start and playing 60-70 minutes is a strong possibility this week. Demarai Gray hasn’t impressed the last few weeks and now Albrighton is available Rodgers finally has another option.
ST: Jamie Vardy
The Newcastle defense did a great job of keeping Vardy quiet last week. Before that game Vardy was in good form, scoring eight goals in his previous eight games.
LW: Harvey Barnes
Barnes should keep his place in the starting line-up. He has played better than Gray and should be safe from being benched to make way for Albrighton.