Preview: Brighton & Hove Albion vs Leicester City (23/11/19)
Leicester travel to the Amex Stadium at the weekend looking to pick up where they left off before the international break and hold onto second spot in the Premier League.
Brighton will also be hoping to continue their steady climb up the Premier League table and secure their fourth consecutive home win.
Brighton team news
Seagulls boss Graham Potter has a defensive dilemma on his hands heading into the weekend, with centre-back Adam Webster out injured and Lewis Dunk serving a one-match ban for picking up five yellow cards.
This might provide a rare opportunity to German-Nigerian defender Leon Balogun, who made just eight league appearances for Brighton last season and has only featured once this term, in the Carabao Cup.
A late fitness test will determine whether rising star Aaron Connolly has shaken off a groin injury in time to feature against the Foxes. Veteran attacker Glenn Murray will be waiting in the wings if the young Irishman doesn’t make it, hoping to end his scoring drought and bag his first league goal of the campaign.
The good news for Potter is that Belgian wideman Leandro Toussard has recovered from an ankle injury and is likely to come back into the matchday squad.
Leicester team news
Key man James Maddison picked up a knock whilst away on international duty with England, but according to Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers, he is expected to recover in time for the Foxes’ trip to the Amex.
Jonny Evans was hospitalised with a bad illness whilst away with Northern Ireland, but Rodgers confirmed that he is also expected to recover and play in this key match in the Premier League.
Manager quotes
Brighton manager Graham Potter: “[Rodgers’] teams play with intelligence and organisation and he’s a top coach and manager.
“Leicester have been in good form recently and Jamie Vardy has been very clinical.
“But he’d be the first to say that it’s as much about the team behind him too that are creating chances for him.”
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers: “We’ve got a tough schedule over the next couple of months and we’ll need the whole squad.
“We need to keep our focus. Football is difficult to forecast. I can only prepare our team, I can only focus on the next game.
“I learned when I was younger when I tried to think about how many points we will get over the next five games, it’s better to just focus on the next game.”
Form
Brighton & Hove Albion (11th): LWLWWL
Leicester City (2nd): LWWWWW
Past meetings
Brighton and Leicester have faced each other 33 times in their history. Leicester winning 14 of them, Brighton coming away the victors 13 times and neither side able to get the better of one another on six occasions.
The Seagulls have failed to overcome Leicester in their last four meetings, though. Goals from Demarai Gray and Jamie Vardy condemned Brighton to a 2-1 defeat the last time these two teams met in February earlier this year at the King Power Stadium.
The last time Brighton managed to defeat Leicester was back in 2014; goals from Stephen Ward and Jesse Lingard plus a Leonardo Ulloa brace condemned the Foxes to a 4-1 defeat when both sides were plying their trade in the Championship.
Amex Stadium image credit by JJ Hall via Flickr Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 2.0