High-flying Leicester City will host Millwall hoping to break the 50-point mark in the Championship. After losing their first two games in November, the Foxes are rapidly approaching automatic promotion. The Lions are still getting adjusted to life without Gary Rowett.
Preview (Leicester City vs. Millwall)
Leicester City forward Patterson Daka is almost certain to make a move in the January transfer window. On Saturday afternoon, Daka put on a strong performance and scored in his team’s 4-0 thumping of Plymouth Argyle. He still contributed to his team’s victory over Steven Schumacher’s homecoming Pilgrims thanks to a brace from Stephy Mavididi and Fred Ndidi’s second of the season, which sealed the Foxes’ most convincing win of the season.
While Leicester easily defeated their opponents from Devonshire in the East Midlands, title rivals Ipswich Town were winning spectacularly once again on Teesside against Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough. As a result, the 2015–16 Premier League champions are still only one point ahead of second place. Leeds United is in third place eight points behind. Head coach Maresca has demanded even more creativity from the former Luton Town loanee. The midfield trio of Nigeria international Ndidi, former England player Harry Winks, and leading playmaker Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is enough to terrorize any second-tier side. The latter has scored six goals and provided seven assists from the engine room.
As was to be expected when talking about the league leaders, Leicester has an excellent record at home. They have amassed 24 points from 10 games and only gave up four goals in those encounters. This speaks to the strength of the Foxes’ defense, which includes players like Jannik Vestergaard and Weg Faes. They have kept Conor Coady off the field for most of the season. Under the management of former Everton and Chelsea assistant Joe Edwards, Millwall has now dropped three of its past four games. They lost a close encounter in South Wales to Cardiff City, who were pursuing Erol Bulut’s top six. The game’s lone goal was an unfortunate accident.
Team News
On Wednesday, Leicester is expecting that players Kelechi Iheanacho and Jamie Vardy, who were sidelined for the Plymouth victory because of illness and a knee problem, respectively, can resume first-team activities. If all of the aforementioned players are unable to play, Tom Cannon may get his first start. Hamza Choudhury will be benched unless he is used in the midfield. Ricardo Pereira, who served a one-game suspension against the Pilgrims, will rejoin the Foxes.
Yunus Akgun and Cesare Casadei are vying for slots in the starting lineup. Maresca has a history of making drastic changes for midweek games in the second division. Due to a calf strain suffered at the end of November, midfielder Casper de Norre, a former Genk player, will not be available for Millwall until after Christmas. George Saville and Jake Cooper both served one-game bans for collecting yellow cards the last time out. They will return to the field, which will help the Lions throughout the difficult trip to the King Power.
Bartosz Bialkowski will once again have to settle for a watching role since Sarkic is essential to Edwards’ style of play, even though he made a mistake in his return to the starting lineup against Cardiff. Over the weekend, Leicester defeated Plymouth with ease. There’s no reason to believe the Foxes can’t do the same at the King Power against a Millwall. The difficult run of games the Lions have had culminates on Wednesday night in the East Midlands, where we believe Edwards’s team will fall victim to the league leaders once again.
Leicester City 2 – 0 Milwall
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