Chelsea and Leicester City square off at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon with both teams having endured indifferent starts to the new Premier League campaign.
While the Blues have collected just four points from their opening three fixtures, the Foxes have posted just one draw, leaving the clubs in 12th and 19th position in the standings.
Match preview
The transfer saga involving Wesley Fofana is inevitably going to dominate the build-up to this match with Chelsea attempting to sign the defender for a fee of at least £70m.
Nevertheless, both teams could do without the distractions given that they have recorded just one victory between them from their first triple-header.
From Chelsea's perspective, everything was heading in the right direction after a 1-0 win at Everton and when leading Tottenham Hotspur deep into add-on time of their London derby.
However, a last-gasp equaliser from their rivals was followed by a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Leeds United, their defeat being deserved despite claims on the contrary by Thomas Tuchel.
Although Tuchel will likely add another three players to his first-team squad over the next week, this now feels like a Chelsea side very much in transition and who are yet to find a solution to their issues with scoring goals.
While injuries in midfield have affected them, that cannot be used as an excuse for Kai Havertz not making an impression in the final third, with only Raheem Sterling performing anywhere near to his ability in that area of the pitch.
As far as Leicester are concerned, they have been heavily reliant on James Maddison, who has netted in each of their games against Brentford, Arsenal and Southampton.
Eight goals have been conceded at the other end, however, and it threatens to undermine anything that Leicester produce going forward as they bid to move away from the bottom end of the table.
Even if it means accepting a marginally lower fee for Fofana, the East Midlands outfit need to resolve the situation to avoid a scenario where Brendan Rodgers is scrambling around in the transfer market for a suitable replacement.
- W
- D
- L
- D
- L
- L
- D
- L
- L
- D
Team News
Fofana will remain out of contention for Leicester, while Rodgers has a decision to make regarding Youri Tielemans as he continues to be linked with a departure.
The Belgian may be recalled in place of Maddison, who Rodgers says "felt a twinge" in training on Wednesday.
Harvey Barnes could keep his spot in the team after coming through 90 minutes against Stockport County in midweek on the back of a knee injury.
If Rodgers switches to a back three, Caglar Soyuncu will return to the starting XI with Ayoze Perez likely to be the player to drop out.
After recovering from a knee issue, Mateo Kovacic will feature on the substitutes' bench, but N'Golo Kante is a definite absentee with a hamstring injury.
Kalidou Koulibaly serves a one-match ban with Marc Cucurella likely to drop into the back three and Ben Chilwell returning to the starting lineup against his former club.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek could replace Conor Gallagher in central midfield, but Havertz is expected to retain his place in attack ahead of Armando Broja, who is likely to feature in the squad after injury.
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Cucurella; James, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Chilwell; Mount, Sterling; Havertz
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Ward; Castagne, Amartey, Evans, Justin; Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall; Perez, Maddison, Barnes; Vardy
We say: Chelsea 2-2 Leicester City
Ordinarily, this would be regarded as a likely Chelsea win for a number of reasons. However, with the Blues missing a defender and facing a team motivated to get back on track, we feel that an entertaining share of the spoils will be played out in West London.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
