Leicester City vs Crystal Palace

King Power Stadium forms the backdrop as Premier League basement boys Leicester City take on fellow bottom-half strugglers Crystal Palace in a high-stakes encounter.

Leicester’s 4-0 thumping of Premier League newcomers Nottingham forest in their most recent home outing was seemingly a one-off as Brendan Rodgers’ side fell to a dreadful 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth last weekend. Nailed to the bottom of the table, the ‘Foxes’ have lost all but two of their opening nine league fixtures (W1, D1) despite taking the lead on six occasions. Indeed, dropping points from winning positions has been a common theme in Leicester’s recent top-flight games, as they’ve wasted a league-high 35 points after breaking the deadlock since the start of the 2021/22 season. Palace’s visit could be just what the doctor ordered for under-fire Rodgers, as the Northern Irishman has guided the ‘Foxes’ to three successive Premier League H2H wins at home, seeing his men net 2+ goals on each occasion.

In the meantime, visiting Crystal Palace bounced back from an early deficit to beat Leeds United 2-1 at home last time out and arrest an underwhelming four-game winless Premier League streak (D2, L2). However, if they’re to win back-to-back top-flight matches for only the third time under current boss Patrick Vieira, the ‘Eagles’ will have to defy their recent league fortunes against Leicester. After completing consecutive Premier League doubles over the East Midlands outfit in 2017/18 and 2018/19, the Londoners have gone winless in their last six against the ‘Foxes’ (D2, L4). On the bright side, Palace haven’t lost any of their 12 previous league games against sides starting the day in the relegation zone (W7, D5) since succumbing to a 1-0 defeat at Burnley in November 2020.