By Ian King
One dismal run should finish
A narrow-ish win in opposition to a reasonably dismal-looking Hoffenheim within the Europa League and that win in opposition to Liverpool within the Carabao Cup however, Spurs’ latest kind has been dismal, with the small comfort from their journey Everton being that they not less than stored the rating respectable after having gone in at half-time three down. It’s now one win in ten within the League.
Leicester Metropolis’s new supervisor bounce following the appointment of Ruud Van Nistelrooy at first of December fell shortly again to earth; one win and one draw on the way in which down, adopted by seven consecutive defeats throughout which they’ve scored two targets and conceded eighteen. It doesn’t say a lot for the 2 groups above them {that a} win in opposition to Spurs may raise them out of the underside three.
Historical past
Spurs and Leicester have performed one another twice in cup finals with Spurs successful each, 2-0 win within the 1961 FA Cup last and 1-0 within the 1999 League Cup last. Extra just lately, this fixture has usually introduced targets. During the last decade Spurs have gained 6-2, 6-1 and 5-4, whereas Leicester gained 4-1 at The King Energy Stadium in 2023. They drew 1-1 on the opening weekend of this season, with a Jamie Vardy objective cancelling out Pedro Porro’s opener for Spurs.
Acquainted faces
James Maddison has spent seven out of 23 on the bench for Spurs this season, however his early objective in Germany on Thursday may imply that he’s given a extra central function in opposition to his former membership. For Leicester, a scarcity of targets has been as extreme because the weak defending, however they’ve two former Spurs gamers, Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp, amongst their obtainable midfielders.
Group Information
Timo Werner, Brennan Johnson, Dominic Solanke and Yves Bissouma have all joined the Spurs harm checklist–now 14 in whole–during the last couple of weeks. But it surely’s not fairly all dangerous information. Antonín Kinský is on the market once more after lacking Hoffenheim and Richarlison got here by the journey with out incident.
Woyo Coulibaly ought to make his debut for Leicester following his switch from Parma, whereas on the different finish of the dimensions Jamie Vardy is now in tenth season with them, a interval throughout which he has now scored 180 League targets.
Prediction
Their Europa League win in Germany was an enchancment, however Spurs nonetheless appeared brittle, notably all through the primary fifteen minutes of the second half, and when pegged again to 2-1 it felt as if a really acquainted script was taking part in out but once more. However they managed to carry on this time, and that’s one thing to hold again right into a Premier League marketing campaign that has fallen spectacularly off the rails in latest weeks. Leicester have been fairly dangerous these final couple of months, a badness arguably masked slightly by Southampton’s even-worseness, and beating a working on vapours, out-of-sorts Spurs by 3-2 sounds according to this fixture’s goal-laden historical past.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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