Leicester City Previews: ‘Nothing but the Huth’- Bournemouth next for the ‘Beast of the East’ Midlands

Leicester City vs Bournemouth

03/03/18

Kick-off: 3pm

Preview:

Well, last weekend didn’t exactly go to plan did it? Leicester City 1-1 Stoke City wasn’t the scoreline I expected, simply based on the stats and Stoke’s recent performances. If you missed my piece on that game, you can find it on the By Far The Greatest Team website.

Luckily though, games comes thick and fast in the Premier League, just like the snow has this week! The Beast from the East causing havoc and for the first time in forever, where I live in Leicester finally saw a decent amount of snow; it’s a miracle!

Speaking of miracles, I’ll be surprised if every game goes ahead this weekend due to the weather, but one game I’m certain will be on is this one- Leicester vs Bournemouth.

Bournemouth come into this one in a pretty good run of form, yet their season thus far has been quite inconsistent. They seem to be a team that don’t have an in-between, they’re either very good on the day or they’re woeful and concede too many goals for Eddie Howe’s liking. As always though, no game in the Premier League is easy and this will be no different, however I’m looking forward to what I hope will be an entertaining game at the King Power this Saturday.

Stats:

Jamie Vardy always seems to like playing against Bournemouth and the form he’s in, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him net at least his 14th goal in the league this season. Vardy has a shot conversion of 28.9 percent (13 goals from 45 attempts on goal), a stat only bettered by Everton’s Wayne Rooney (30.3%). He’s also scored in five of Leicester’s last six appearances in all competitions- a stat he could easily increase this Saturday.

Leicester haven’t won in four league games, with their last victory coming against Watford just over a month ago. Bournemouth on the other hand, have only lost one of their last four, winning two. Bournemouth have the better recent run of results which will give them confidence. Furthermore, if we expand that stat out, that single Bournemouth defeat was only their first in nine games, let alone in four, a run stretching back to December.

Although Bournemouth do concede goals, 43 to be exact, they still manage to find ways to get points from games. They’re one of the top teams for getting points from being in losing positions, something that Eddie Howe will be delighted at.

The league meeting between these two back in September played out a pretty boring 0-0, and so both will want to rectify that and give their fans something to cheer about at the ‘KP’ this weekend.

Prediction:

I’m always more confident when we play at home; I guess that’s natural. I have to be wary though; Bournemouth are a little like Stoke, fickle in terms of performances and arguably shouldn’t be where they are in the league, based on the depth of their squad. In Eddie Howe, Bournemouth have an upcoming coach who plays good, attacking football. Although, defensively, the Cherries haven’t exactly covered themselves in gold this season.

It’s on that basis alone that I can see us picking them apart, but only if we up our levels from the Stoke game. Against Paul Lambert’s side, we were flat and didn’t take our chances when we were on top, and we can’t be the same against Bournemouth. Remember, this is a side who possess more pace going forward than Stoke, especially out in the wide areas where they can spring fast counter attacks if we’re not careful.

I’m anticipating quite an open game where both sides will create chances. Ultimately, whoever takes their chances when they get them will see the game out, and I think we’ll have a bit too much quality for the away side this weekend.

Score Prediction:

Leicester City 3-1 Bournemouth