With Premier League action returning this week with two rounds of fixtures, one of the big games on Thursday sees an out-of-sorts Leicester City side travel to Anfield Stadium to take on Liverpool.
The foxes have already faced Liverpool twice this campaign, with a penalty shoot-out loss in the League Cup followed up six days later when Ademola Lookman secured a 1-0 win at home.
Failing Foxes
Now, with the business end of the season looming, Leicester need to turn around their poor form to prove to their boss, Brendan Rogders, that they deserve their place in the starting XI. Following an extraordinary comeback from Spurs to score 2 stoppage-time goals to win 3-2, Leicester fans were heart-broken once again when Danny Welbeck ensured Brighton shared the points at the King Power Stadium.
If Foxes fans weren’t frustrated enough with their side for not closing out the past two games, the current FA Cup holders were then dumped out of the competition yesterday in a staggering 4-1 loss away to local rivals Nottingham Forest. This time, Rodgers called the result ‘embarrassing’ and ‘A lot of players have to improve’, before adding that ‘time could be up’ for some of his players.
Having been eliminated from the Europa league and both domestic competitions, Leicester sit 10th in the Premier League. After narrowly missing out on the top 4 the past couple of seasons, they’ll need to go on a good run to bring it back. However, with games in hand on team around them, can recent results and the manager’s criticism be the signs for Leicester to turn it around?
Lively Liverpool
On the other side of things, Liverpool are enjoying a return to form after a tough period during the busy Christmas schedule. Picking up just 2 points from 3 games at the back end of December, Jürgen Klopp’s side have come back strongly with wins against Brentford and Crystal Palace in the league. This was backed up by a 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium to send them through to the EFL Cup final later this month, while a routine victory against Cardiff City in the FA Cup saw Harvey Elliot find the net after his long-awaited return from injury.
Klopp’s side have been without their 2 most potent attackers in Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah, as the pair battled it out in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations final. In their absence, Diogo Jota has stepped up to the plate once again, proving his aerial threat in the box, while the signing of 25-year-old winger Luis Díaz from Porto will add depth to an already deadly front 3.
With Liverpool racking up 58 goals in just 22 league games this season, and Leicester already shipping 37 in just 20 games, signs point towards a comfortable night for The Reds.
Can Liverpool put on a show against a lacklustre Leicester side, or will the gaffer’s words spark something in his Foxes team?
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