Recent Form
Brendan Rodgers needs to get his team going again following a defeat away to Legia Warsaw on Thursday, leaving them with an uphill task to make it out of the Europa League group stage.
They’ve also been rather lacklustre domestically since beating Man City in the Community Shield back in early August, currently all the way down in seventh place as things just aren’t going their way at the moment.
Across all competitions, the Foxes are just W1-D2-L3 since the start of September as the sole victory was garnered over mid-table Championship outfit Millwall in the League Cup.
Jamie Vardy has at least shown signs of coming to life with three goals in their past two league games, a 2-1 defeat to Brighton and a 2-2 stalemate with Burnley, but the defence has been the real issue giving Brendan Rodgers some headaches.
Indeed, that clash with Millwall has produced their only clean sheet from their past eight appearances.
Wesley Fofana and James Justin remain absent for the Foxes in defence, and they must surely wish the former was available with none of the options at centre-back having their greatest season to date.
They had appeared to plug the gap with the signing of Jannik Vestergaard, though with Jonny Evans still working his way back to his best form following injury and Caglar Soyuncu’s standards dropping in the current campaign for both club and country, goals are still being conceded.
At least Evans will be fresh having not travelled for the midweek tie, though defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi is now a doubt after picking up a hamstring complaint that’s seen him miss out on Nigeria’s upcoming internationals.
Palace Double Chance
Crystal Palace are a team in transition and the jury is still out on Patrick Vieira’s appointment. Just one win in seven games this season isn’t exactly a great return, with a League Cup defeat to Watford the most disappointing result to date.
Those other losses were inflicted by title challengers Chelsea and Liverpool, and with a less defensive approach than under predecessor Roy Hodgson, it’s perhaps unsurprising that they struggled to hang in those games a little better.
Still, aside from taking on sides with genuine ambitions of lifting the title, Palace have picked up a bit since late August as they twice battled back to earn a point away to an impressive West Ham outfit, thoroughly outplayed Tottenham to win 3-0 at Selhurst Park and were only denied here at home by a last-gasp equalizer for Brighton in their most recent fixture.
They have an increased attacking threat with Odsonne Edouard immediately settling into his surroundings after joining from Celtic on deadline day, while Chelsea loanee Connor Gallagher looks an inspired signing and is a real driving force from midfield.
Leicester have only claimed victory in one of their past five trips to Selhurst Park and this looks set to be another tough afternoon.
Palace are showing a few signs that they’re adapting to Vieira’s demands and he appears closer to knowing his best team as well, while he’s yet to hand minutes to summer signings Will Hughes and Michael Olise as his bench looks a little stronger now too.
PREDICTION:
CRYSTAL PALACE DOUBLE CHANCE
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