Tottenham v Leicester City – Preview, Predictions, and Best Bets

Tottenham host Leicester in the Premier League at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday. Spurs sit third in the table having made an unbeaten start to the league season whilst Leicester sit bottom as they’re winless in six matches. Harry Kane loves facing Leicester with 17 netted in 14 against the Foxes.

Tottenham Form

Spurs have had a good start to the season results-wise, even if some performances have left a lot to be desired. They lost in midweek, 2-0 away to Sporting Lisbon in disappointing fashion but had gone unbeaten in their seven matches prior to that.

Tottenham’s opening six league matches brought four wins and two draws. They netted in 96^th minute to draw 2-2 at Stamford Bridge before grinding out a 1-0 win at home to Wolves and 2-0 at Nottingham Forest. A 1-1 draw at West Ham came next before beating Fulham 2-1 at home. Spurs began their Champions League campaign with a 2-0 home win against Marseille as Richarlison netted two late goals.

Tottenham Team News

Antonio Conte rarely changes many positions in his starting XI. Lucas Moura is currently the only injured players. In attack, Dejan Kulusevski is pushing to be recalled and it may be Son Heung-min who is given a breather after some disappointing form.

In defence, Ryan Sessegnon could come in at left wingback for Ivan Perisic for rotation whilst Clement Lenglet may replace Ben Davies. Yves Bissouma is expected to continue to be left amongst the substitutes after his arrival from Brighton.

Tottenham Motivation

Spurs will go all out to win this match and to try to close the gap to the top of the table. They will want to bounce back from the late midweek loss.

Conte’s sides often play within themselves and don’t always dominate possession but moments of individual quality usually prove the difference. They will fancy themselves to score a few goals against a very leaky Foxes defence.

Leicester Form

The Foxes are in dire form having lost their last five league matches. They finished last season well (WWDW) but began this term with a 2-0 home draw with Brentford having led 2-0 after an hour. Since then, they’ve leaked 14 goals in five matches with no points accrued, pointing them bottom of the table.  

A 4-2 loss at Arsenal was more emphatic than the scoreline suggests, before being beaten 2-1 at home by a struggling Southampton team. A 2-1 loss at Chelsea followed despite playing against ten men for over 60 minutes. Leicester were then beaten 1-0 at home by Man Utd and humiliated 5-2 away at Brighton last time out. They conceded three goals in the final 30 minutes with the score at 2-2 after 63 minutes.

Leicester Team News

Rodgers has three injuries to deal with as Ryan Bertrand and Ricardo Pereira miss out at fullback and Dennis Praet is a doubt in midfield with a foot problem. Wilfred Ndidi has been playing in central defence after the sale of Wesley Fofana but he should revert to midfield for this one. Caglar Soyuncu is out of favour and whilst Wout Faes was signed from Reims, he may not be ready for this level.

Timothy Castagne, Jamie Vardy and Daniel Amartey are all pushing for recalls. Rodgers went 4-4-2 in the last match and both Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka scored, but the side were wide open defensively.

Leicester Motivation

Leicester would take a point from this match in a heartbeat. They’re in terrible form and a draw would stop the losing streak and be something to build on.

The approach taken by Rodgers is hard to predict. If he does 4-4-2 again, his side could be sliced open constantly. He may go to a back five to be solid as an option but it will only be clear once the starting XI is announced.

Key Stats

Spurs have won 7 of their last 9 PL matches against Leicester

Harry Kane has scored 17 goals in 14 PL matches against The Foxes

Tottenham are unbeaten in the PL this season (W4, D2)

Spurs have won their last 6 home PL matches, winning HT/FT in 5 of those

Leicester have lost their last 5 PL matches

There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 6 of Leicester’s last 7 PL games

Leicester have conceded at least 2 goals in 5 of their last 6 PL matches

Verdict

All the stats and logic points to Spurs winning this match by a decent margin and there being goals in this fixture. A straight Tottenham win isn’t great value so some creative options are needed.

Safe Bet: Tottenham win at 1.47
Alternative Bet: Tottenham half time/full time at 2.20
Alternative Bet: Spurs win and Harry Kane to score anytime at 2.26
High Value Bet Tip: Tottenham (-2 handicap) at 4.05

James O'Connor

James is a football analyst who writes about the tactics of the PSL and English Premier League. He holds the UEFA A coaching licence and has previously worked for several clubs in analysis roles.Twitter: https://twitter.com/footy_analysis