Leicester City Previews: ‘Nothing but the Huth’ – The battle for European football takes us to Turf Moor

Burnley vs Leicester City

14/04/18

Kick-off: 3pm

Preview:

Well, my 2-0 prediction last weekend went down like a led balloon didn’t it? What an awful result we had at home to Newcastle; another Rafa Benitez special. We played like a team who struggled to create any ideas and only had one shot on target all game – Jamie Vardy’s goal, which was extremely disappointing.

Again, Leicester fans vented their frustrations on social media but what I think Leicester fans need to realise is, we’re not a top four side. We need to stop being unrealistic. Don’t get me wrong, I dare to dream about what this team could do and we’ve seen already how good this football team are, but we have to understand that this is a transition period for Leicester City. This is the time where Claude Puel starts to stamp his authority on the team, and this summer’s transfer window will dictate how little or how far we’ve come in a short space of time.

Give Puel a chance to complete his ‘mission’ shall we call it, I say!

Enough of my mini-rant, let’s move on swiftly to Burnley this Saturday in the Premier League. The battle for European football is very much on; these two are two of a few team fighting it out to reach that seventh spot.

Stats:

If stats are anything to go by, then Leicester are well in control of this contest. The Foxes have only lost one of their last 12 games against the Clarets, including going ten unbeaten from 2011 to January 2017, ending that streak in a 1-0 defeat at Turf Moor.

The last meeting between the sides came back in December where Leicester won by a goal to nil, Demarai Gray with the winner on the day.

Burnley are unbeaten in their last five league games, winning their last four, and haven’t lost since the early part of February against a rejuvenated Swansea side. They’ve managed to score nine goals in their last four, and only conceded three (one goal conceded, per game, in three out the four victories).

For Leicester the form guide isn’t that bad considering the performances haven’t been quite up to standards. The Foxes have only lost one of their last five, with that defeat coming only last week against Newcastle.

The issue for Leicester fans is the amount of goals we’re conceding, because since January 31st (2-1 defeat to Everton), including that game, Leicester have only kept one clean sheet in eight, coming in a 2-0 win against Brighton two weeks ago. Following on from that, Burnley don’t often keep clean sheets either, and since January 31st again, the Clarets have only kept two clean sheets in eight, so there won’t be much in it I don’t think, come Saturday afternoon.

Prediction:

Burnley are a team on the up and are a team that have turned Turf Moor into somewhat of a fortress. As a Leicester fan, I must admit I’m not confident at all this weekend, simply because of Burnley’s form leading into the game.

Sean Dyche has done a remarkable job up in Lancashire and in all honesty, it’s going to take something rather special to get three points this weekend.

Claude Puel will need to get his players to perform, especially following last week’s 2-1 defeat and will be wanting a reaction from the starting eleven come Saturday afternoon.

If this was at the King Power, I’d actually shock some people and say we’d win and win well, but with this being an away match, I unfortunately don’t see anything but a home win here.

Time to prove me wrong, Leicester!

Score Prediction:

Burnley 2-1 Leicester City