Leicester City vs Fulham Prediction

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Leicester City vs Fulham Prediction Match Overview

Leicester City host Fulham in round 18 of the Premier League, for their first fixtures of 2023. Leicester find themselves sliding towards the relegation zone again, following an upturn in form that was halted abruptly for the World Cup mid-season break. A 3-0 home defeat to Newcastle followed by a 2-1 defeat away to Liverpool has ensured that Leicester now have 10 defeats in 17 matches and are averaging just one point per game. A potential problem for Leicester here is that they can’t especially rely on their home form to pull them out of this situation temporarily, as they have only won two of their eight home matches. Leicester have scored nine goals in those eight home matches, and four of those came against Nottingham Forest – generally, they have struggled for goals at home which makes this match against Fulham an unenviable task. A win here for Leicester could create a six-point cushion between themselves and the relegation zone, depending on results elsewhere.

Fulham for their part have returned from the World Cup winter break with style, winning both their matches. Though aided by red cards, Fulham secured a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace before defeating Southampton 2-1 at home to bring them up to 7th position in the table, ahead of Chelsea on goals scored but having played an extra game. Fulham’s away form is reasonable, they’re eight in the away table which is approximately commensurate with their league position. Their away matches tend to be high-scoring affairs, with 26 goals over 8 matches. All three of their away victories this season have involved them scoring three times, 3-2 over both Nottingham Forest and Leeds, and the 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace as previously mentioned. A win here would take Fulham closer to the European qualification spots.

Leicester vs Fulham Team News

Injuries and Suspensions

Leicester City:

Might Not Play: Daka, Tielemans

Will Not Play: Maddison Bertrand, Evans, Justin, Pereira, Praet,

Fulham:

Might Not Play: Kurzawa
Will Not Play: Kebano, Solomon

Possible Lineups

Leicester City (4-3-3): Ward; Thomas, Faes, Amartey, Castagne; Ndidi, Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall; Barnes, Perez, Vardy

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno; Robinson, Ream, Diop, Tete; Reed, Palhinha; Willian, Pereira, Decordova-Reid; Mitrovic

Leicester vs Fulham Prediction Analysis

Leicester’s Defensive Stability of Lack Thereof

Leicester’s performance against Liverpool was fairly typical of the East Midlanders so far this season. Time and time again, they were carved open and frankly had some profligate finishing from Liverpool to thank for a narrow 2-1 scoreline. While defender Wout Faes scored two own goals, Liverpool were able to create dangerous attacking situations at will from almost any area of the pitch. Leicester must not believe they were unfortunate to lose that match by simply pointing to the fact that Liverpool benefited from two own goals – they gave up 21 shots on goal and Liverpool squandered a procession of chances. Although that may have sounded overly negative, we must remember that Fulham have scored 13 goals in 8 away games and while they have also shipped 13, it will be of great concern to Leicester’s coaching staff because Fulham are not as profligate as Liverpool in front of goal. Mitrovic is in better goalscoring form, and if Leicester are gifting away chances again then they could be in for a very long night.

Fulham’s Midfield Pressing/Counter-Pressing

It has to be said that Leicester lack invention without their midfield pairing of James Maddison and Youri Tielemans in the starting XI, and although the Belgian may be available for this one, Fulham will be aware that simply denying the likes of Dewsbury-Hall, Ndidi and Soumare time on the ball in the middle of the park will probably be sufficient to enable them to pressurise the Leicester midfield as they attempt to gain a foothold in the game. It’s not that the three midfielders mentioned are bad players in any respect, more an acknowledgement that none of them are specialist playmakers that are used to quickly picking the right possession option in traffic and dictating the tempo.

Against some teams, Leicester would be able to compensate and get away with their losses, but Fulham are a strong team in central midfield. While Mitrovic has grabbed the headlines with his production and industry up front, Fulham have proven that they can hold their own against most Premier League sides in midfield, and their midfield unit of Reed, Palinha and Pereira combine well to harry and force the opposition into mistakes while out of possession. The fact that Fulham possess hard-working wide men in Willian and Reid who will do their fair share of tracking back also aids their cause significantly.

Leicester Don’t Have a Settled Attack

Rodgers has yet to find the right formula from his attackers, as he constantly rotates them to find the winning combination. As a result, none of them have made particularly impressive contributions this season. Former Salzburg man Patson Daka has three goals and three assists from 16 games. Jamie Vardy has just one goal and four assists from 17 games. Kelechi Iheanacho has one goal and one assist from 12, and Ayoze Perez just an assist in 7. Harvey Barnes with 6 goals so far in 15 games and the injured James Maddison have been the team’s bright spots in attack, and frankly, without the England international Leicester struggle to create enough to score regularly.

Beat the Bookmaker Leicester vs Fulham Prediction

We don’t feel that Leicester, despite their home advantage here, have enough quality at their disposal at the moment without their talismanic playmaking midfielder to hurt Fulham’s backline regularly enough to score more than once. Fulham, on the other hand, look like they are capable of hurting any team outside of the top 6 with regularity, and frankly, they’re capable of giving those sides jostling for European qualification a scare or two. Whilst this may seem reductive, we feel in this case that Fulham will be able to do enough here to secure the win.

Leicester City 1-2 Fulham

Beat the Bookmaker Leicester City vs Fulham Prediction – Fulham Odds: