Leicester City Previews: ‘Nothing but the Huth’ – Can Leicester’s rearguard stop Liverpool’s potent strike force?

Liverpool vs Leicester City

30/12/17

Kick-off: 3pm

Preview:

The final game of the year beckons, before we transfer across to 2018 on a one-year deal. Leicester travel to Anfield looking to bounce back after defeat to Watford, whereas Liverpool will be disappointed if they only score one- the way they’ve been performing this season.

Bar Man City who can still be top in February if they lose all their games from now until then, it’s Jürgen Klopp’s side who have produced some of the best attacking play the Premier League has seen, arguably not just this season. The Brazilian magic of Coutinho and Firmino, alongside an inform Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane have torn teams apart this season, and have contributed to over three quarters of Liverpool’s total goals thus far.

Stats:

Head to Head and it’s Liverpool who have marginally the better record, with 46 wins from 109 matches, drawing 24 and losing 39.

In terms of recent results, it’s been a very mixed bag. What I mean by that is after every game since 2003, there’s been a different result after a loss. The form guide since 2003 goes like this:

LDLDLWLWLWL

There hasn’t been two defeats on the spin in all competitions since 2002/2003, which will give Leicester hope that they can get a positive result on Saturday.

Liverpool come into this in red hot form, losing just two games all season in all competitions, with their last defeat coming 12 games ago away at Tottenham. They’ve scored 12 goals in their last three games and conceded just three– all of which were against Arsenal.

Leicester however haven’t won in three Premier League games, losing two, leaking seven goals in the process netting just three.

Philippe Coutinho has been a real shining light in that Liverpool side, scoring seven goals in total, with two coming at Anfield. He’s created 38 chances for his team; six assists and 32 key passes, which means he’s their leading assister. The little Brazilian is a real threat and drives Liverpool further up the pitch and to back that up, he’s played 478 passes this season with a pass accuracy of 80%, however out of those 478 passes, 87% of them have been forward ones. He looks to be having a major influence on his side’s attacking prowess.

Leicester also have an inform striker too let’s not forget- Jamie Vardy. The England striker has bagged eight goals this season, three of which have been away from the King Power Stadium. His shot accuracy away from home is 50% this season, which means every two chances he gets, he’s likely to score one. He will need to be at his best to ensure that Leicester get something from this match.

Score Prediction:

I’m putting my neck on the line here, but in recent weeks my predictions have been close as well as getting one result bang on the money. I’m going to put my neck further on the line and say that this game will produce a few goals…

Liverpool’s red-hot attack, countered by their leaky defence means Leicester have a real chance to take something from Merseyside. However, on the same token, Leicester’s defence hasn’t exactly been shutting out teams, conceding the most goals this season from set-pieces as well as having the third worst goal difference in the top ten of zero; literally zero.

So this begs the question- which defence will crack first?

Unfortunately, as much as I want to be confident, I just have to take one look at Liverpool’s front four or five and my mind automatically thinks the worst. Surely I’m not the only one thinking that way?

I think Klopp’s side might be a little too strong for Puel’s Foxes, which as you can imagine, I hope doesn’t happen, but I’m also a realist and I can see Liverpool taking the three points, in what will be the last games in 2017 for both clubs.

Prediction:

Liverpool 3-2 Leicester City