Ruud van Nistelrooy's first taste of knockout football as Leicester City head coach sees the Foxes welcome Queens Park Rangers to the King Power Stadium for Saturday's FA Cup third-round clash.
It has been almost 38 years to the day since the sides last met in the prestigious competition, although few will back QPR to replicate their 5-2 thrashing of Leicester from that 1987 affair.
Match preview
A home encounter against a lower-division team appears to be just what the doctor ordered for Leicester, who have been brought crashing back down to earth after the new manager bounce under Van Nistelrooy rapidly subsided.
Since collecting their last Premier League point against Brighton & Hove Albion at the beginning of December, Saturday's hosts have been put to the sword in each of their last five top-flight matches and are the only side in the division without a single point from the last 15 on offer.
Van Nistelrooy's crop did give Champions League-competing Aston Villa a good run for their money on matchday 20, but strikes from Ross Barkley and Leon Bailey either side of a Stephy Mavididi leveller sent Leicester back to the King Power empty-handed from a 2-1 defeat.
Nineteenth in the Premier League table with a two-point gap to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 17th spot, the Foxes have bigger fish to fry than a run in the FA Cup, but they seldom disappoint early on in the competition.
Indeed, not since the 2018-19 campaign have the Foxes been eliminated in the third round, and 18 FA Cup match wins since the 2017-18 season is the fourth-best in all the land; only Manchester City (31), Chelsea (26) and Manchester United (25) have more successes to their name in that time.
In stark contrast to the 2020-21 FA Cup winners' pleasing tally, upcoming visitors QPR hold an unwanted competition record; since the current tournament format came into effect in 1925, they have lost a staggering 51 third-round matches, more than any other team.
In fact, eight of QPR's last 11 runs in the FA Cup have ended at this exact hurdle, including in each of the last two campaigns against Bournemouth and Fleetwood Town, and the Championship outfit are yet to add a maiden tournament trophy to their modest silverware collection.
Marti Cifuentes's men should also be prioritising league matters over knockout fortunes, although their recent form gives rise to an FA Cup surprise; the visitors edged out recently-relegated Luton Town 2-1 in their most recent Championship contest and are now 13th in the standings, mathematically closer to the playoff spots than the relegation places.
After not winning any of their 13 matches from September 14 to November 23, the QPR faithful opted to stick with Cifuentes rather than twist and are now reaping the rewards; the Hoops have now come up trumps in six of their last 10 Championship matches, albeit while also conceding in each of their last six.
QPR's last visit to the King Power also ended in an unexpected triumph - they stunned Enzo Maresca's team 2-1 in a March 2024 Championship clash - but Leicester had won four of their previous five battles, including a 5-1 Premier League trouncing in May 2015 before the Hoops bid farewell to the top flight.
Team News
Leicester did not come out of their trip to Villa Park unscathed on the physical front, as centre-back Jannik Vestergaard came off with an injury just past the hour mark, and it is still not known whether he is suffering from a knock or something more sinister.
Van Nistelrooy is definitely missing Wilfred Ndidi (thigh), Ricardo Pereira (thigh), Mads Hermansen (groin) and Abdul Fatawu (knee) for the third-round clash, but Victor Kristiansen (illness) and Kasey McAteer (unspecified) have not been ruled out just yet.
Both players should come into contention for promotion to the first XI if passed fit, and the same goes for Bobby Decordova-Reid, who scored his maiden FA Cup goal against QPR while on the books at Fulham in 2021.
Likewise, QPR were dealt a fresh blow in Monday's success over Luton, where Paul Smyth was substituted in the 61st minute with an unspecified concern, but he does not appear to have sustained a serious problem.
Striker Zan Celar (hamstring) and fellow attacker Karamoko Dembele (knock) remain out too, but Cifuentes's squad is otherwise in good nick for the trip to Leicester.
With a seven-day break in between Saturday's game and a trip to Plymouth Argyle, the Hoops boss can afford to go strong, although Koki Saito will deputise for Smyth on the wing if need be.
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Iversen; Justin, Faes, Okoli, Kristiansen; Skipp, Soumare; Decordova-Reid, Buonanotte, Mavididi; Daka
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Walsh; Ashby, Dunne, Fox, Paal; Field, Varane; Saito, Morgan, Chair; Frey
We say: Leicester City 2-1 Queens Park Rangers
Leicester and QPR may be heading in opposite trajectories in their respective leagues, but clean sheets remain hard to come by for Cifuentes's side, even if the feel-good factor has returned.
The Hoops can still be expected to trouble a confidence-depleted Foxes unit, but Van Nistelrooy's extra firepower in attack should just about get the hosts over the line.
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