Premier League Preview – Chelsea vs Leicester City
Chelsea and Leicester will renew rivalries on Tuesday evening as they battle it out for Champions League football.
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, Chelsea and Leicester face off for the second time in four days with a top-four finish on the line. The Foxes secured the FA Cup at the expense of the Blues on Saturday, and Thomas Tuchel will now have to turn the tide in what must be the worst period in his tenure as Chelsea boss.
Champions League football will be the priority for Tuchel, and a win against Leicester and matching their rival’s results on the final day would be enough to secure a place in next season’s competition. Should Chelsea miss out, they do have one final shot at the Champions League, which would be if they beat Manchester City in the final in Porto.
Chelsea has not played particularly badly recently, but have had had issues in making their dominance count in front of goal, and lacked that creative spark in the final third. Timo Werner has suffered much of the ire of Chelsea fans in recent weeks and could be rested on Tuesday with an eye on the Champions League final.
Tuchel is expecting a reaction from his side after faltering in the cup final, and is expected to make plenty of changes with Edouard Mendy, Kurt Zouma, Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic all pushing to start. The pair of
Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen are expected to still be on the sidelines with injury.
Chelsea Predicted Team,
Mendy; James, Zouma, Rudiger; Azpilicueta, Kante, Kovacic, Chilwell; Mount, Havertz, Pulisic
Date -5/18/2 Kick-Off – 22:15
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As for Leicester City, they’ll be looking to get back to business after the high of winning a first-ever FA Cup on Saturday. A thunderous second-half strike from Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans handed the Foxes the famous cup and sparked jubilant scenes in front of fans at Wembley. Brendan Rodgers has guided his side into the top four for the majority of the season, and won’t be hoping for a repeat of last year when they just missed out on the final day against Manchester United.
The FA Cup win will certainly give the Northern Irish boss plenty of confidence especially with how strong defensively his side was against Chelsea. Still, it will be a wonder if Leicester has recovered physically and mentally to get the result they need. Rodgers will be acutely aware that a draw at Stamford Bridge will leave their Champions League hopes in their own hands ahead of the visit of Tottenham on the final day.
In team news, Jonny Evans is unlikely to feature after limping off in the cup final. Marc Albrighton and Ricardo Pereira are likely to battle it out for the rightwing back slot. James Maddison was used as an impact sub at the weekend and Rodgers may favour the England international over Kelechi Iheanacho in attack.
Leicester City Predicted Team
Schmeichel; Castagne, Fofana, Soyuncu; Albrighton, Tielemans, Ndidi, Thomas; Perez, Maddison; Vardy,
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, It promises to be a fascinating contest, follow all the action with beIN SPORTS.