Now or never: Leicester need the three points!
Last updated: February 24, 2016 by Leon Marshal
Game details
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| Kick-off: | Saturday, 3pm |
| Venue: | The King Power Stadium |
| Coverage: | Sky Sports 1, BBC 5 Live |
| Home form: | LWWWL |
| Away form: | DLLLL |
| Last season: | — |
| Competition: | The Premier League |
Leicester City are to host Norwich City on Saturday. The Foxes are still leaders of The Premier League table, but are now just 2 points in front of Arsenal and Tottenham. If Claudio Ranieri’s players are to fight for 1st place they will have to earn the 3 points from the match against The Canaries. You know that there are no easy games in The Premiership and the match against Norwich, for sure, will be tough for Leicester.
Furthermore, Norwich are in the relegation battle. The Canaries are in real trouble after losing 5 of their last 6 Premier League matches. Norwich City conceded 18 goals, which means they concede at least 3 goals per game on average. If they keep playing like that, they are going to be relegated!
The Foxes beat The Canaries 2-1 at Carrow Road earlier this season. Vardy and Schlupp scored for Leicester City, while Mbokani found the net for Norwich. The stats between these two teams at The King Power Stadium are totally equal – 6 victories for Leicester City, 4 draws and 6 wins for Norwich City.
Team News
Jeffrey Schlupp is the only injured player in Leicester’s squad. The Ghanaian has a hamstring problem and will resume full training within a couple of weeks.
Andre Wisdom of Norwich is suffering from a knee injury. However, the defender is not among the key players, having made only 7 appearances this season.
Jamie Vardy is currently the Premier League top goal-scorer with 19 goals in 26 matches. Can he help Leicester win the title?
Alex Neil could make some changes in the team’s defence. He can’t be happy with his defenders after conceding 18 goals in 6 games.
Quotes of the week
Claudio Ranieri (Leicester) :
“I don’t want sad people training with me. Life is very short it’s important to be happy. This is a good experience but sometimes you need a bad one.”
Alex Neil (Norwich) :
“If someone else comes in and pays Lafferty’s wages then there is an opportunity for him to go.”
Expected line-ups:
| . | |
| Leicester (4-4-2): | Schmeichel, Huth, Morgan, Simpson, Fuchs, Albrighton, Drinkwater, Kante, Mahrez, Vardy, Okazaki. |
| Subs | Gray, Wasilewski, Dyer, King, Ulloa, Schwarzer, Inler |
| Injured: | Schlupp, James. |
| Doubtful: | — |
| Not available: | — |
| . | |
| Norwich (5-4-1): | Rudd, Klose, Ivo Pinto, Brady, Martin, Mulumbu, Redmond, Naismith, Howson, Hoolahan, Mbokani. |
| Subs | Ruddy, Olsson, Bassong, Jerome, O’Neil, Jarvis, Bamford. |
| Injured: | Dorrans. |
| Doubtful: | — |
| Not available: | Tettey. |
Key Battle
 |
Mahrez this season | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Minutes | Goals | Shots per game | Assists | MotM | Yellows | Reds | |
| 24 (1) | 2031 | 14 | 2,5 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 0 | |
 |
Naismith this season | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Minutes | Goals | Shots per game | Assists | MotM | Yellows | Reds | |
| 8 (6) | 763 | 4 | 1,5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
So far this season
| . | . | . |
|---|---|---|
| Leicester City this season | Norwich City this season | |
| 1 | League Position | 17 |
| 7 (8) | (at home) Wins (away) | 4 (2) |
| 3-0 vs. Stoke, Newcastle and Swansea | Biggest win | 3-1 vs. Sunderland and Bournemouth |
| 4 (4) | (at home) Draws (away) | 4 (2) |
| 1 (2) | (at home) Losses (away) | 5 (9) |
| 2-5 to Arsenal | Biggest Defeat | 2-6 to Newcastle |
| Vardy (19) | Top scorer | Mbokani, Redmond, Hoolahan (4) |
| Mahrez (10) | Assist Leader | Hoolahan (7) |
| Y40, R1 | Discipline | Y40, R3 |
| 3 | Failures to score | 8 |
| 8 | Clean Sheets | 3 |
| 17 | Both Teams to Score Games | 15 |
| 16 | Over 2.5 Games | 15 |
| 10 | Under 2.5 Games | 11 |
- The Canaries have lost 8 of their last 9 away Premier League matches. They have won only 2 away games this season.
- Norwich City have failed to score in 5 of their last 7 away league matches. The Canaries have also the worst defence in The Premier League (50 goals conceded).
- Leicester City have kept a clean sheet in their last 4 Premiership matches at The King Power Stadium. They have lost only 1 home game this season.
- The last time Norwich won an away game was on 2nd January 2016 when The Canaries beat Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford.
Head to Head
| Last 5 meetings between the two sides | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Competition | Game Result | First Goal-scorer |
| 03/10/15 | The Premier League | Norwich 1-2 Leicester | J. Vardy 28′ |
| 18/02/12 | The FA Cup | Norwich 1-2 Leicester | St. Ledger 5′ |
| 08/03/11 | The Championship | Leicester 2-3 Norwich | W. Hoolahan 21′ |
| 28/09/10 | The Championship | Norwich 4-3 Leicester | M. Waghorn 2′ |
| 16/02/08 | The Championship | Leicester 4-0 Norwich | I. Hume 22′ |