Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur : Match Preview


Leicester City were beaten by Manchester City at the weekend and have another mammoth task as they battle Tottenham Hotspur tonight.Leicester narrowly lost to Manchester City on Saturday thanks to an unusually disallowed penalty. Riyad Mahrez touched the ball twice as he slipped taking the spot kick, with the resulting goal being ruled out and the scoreline remaining 2-1 to Manchester City for the remainder of the game. This follows on from victories against West Brom and Watford, and with two home matches finishing off the season for Leicester they could definitely move into the top half of the table. That would be classed as a very impressive interim spell for Craig Shakespeare, with him taking over control when they were in relegation trouble.The vast majority of Leicester’s recent success has come at the King Power Stadium. They are unbeaten since Shakespeare took control and have won seven of their last eight home games in all competitions. This includes a 3-1 victory over Liverpool, a 2-0 win against Sevilla, and a draw against Atletico Madrid. Tottenham came close to lifting the title again this season, but Chelsea’s win against West Brom on Friday saw the title head to Stamford Bridge, leaving Spurs to wallow in 2nd place for the second season in a row.

They will be ruing their 1-0 loss away to West Ham at the start of May, and there have been a few more slip ups on the way. All of these came away from home, with them winning just five of their last 14 away days in the Premier League.h Five of the remaining nine ended all square, with four defeats to look back on over this period of play. Add that to the fact that Spurs will lack the motivation that as spurred them on this season as they again failed to land the league title, choking at the vital moment.How would Tottenham cope without Mousa Dembele? Though the final games of the season will change nothing for Spurs’ position in the Premier League, they may give some indications about how they might handle the future - with the Dembele question prominent in their thoughts. Dembele has not started the last three matches because of a foot problem, which will require a visit to a specialist at the end of the season. The early signs have been mixed, with wins against Arsenal and Manchester United, either side of the defeat at West Ham that effectively ended their title challenge.
Victor Wanyama impressed in the ‘Dembele’ role against Arsenal and United, after being given more freedom to attack than he had been granted for much of the campaign. Eric Dier is more defensively minded but Harry Winks, sidelined with an ankle injury, showed promise this term and should build on it next.

 

Published: 05/18/2017