Middlesbrough vs Leicester City. Premier League.
Riverside StadiumAttendance32,437.
Monday 2 January 2017 12:40, UK
Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani will play their final game for Leicester before the Africa Cup of Nations as they travel to Middlesbrough in the Premier League on Monday.
The Algerian duo will link up with their national team next week, with Daniel Amartey and Jeff Schlupp also heading off for international duty with Ghana.
They could miss up to a month of Premier League fixtures depending on how far they go in the competition, with the Foxes aiming for their first back-to-back victories this season after beating West Ham 1-0 on New Year's Eve.
Middlesbrough sit just two points behind the current league champions in the table and will be looking to take advantage of Leicester's poor away form, with manager Aitor Karanka preparing his side for a huge game live on Sky Sports.
"Now is the most important game in the season because it is the next one and it is against a direct opponent. All this season, these are the kind of games we have to win," said the Boro boss.
Leicester striker Jamie Vardy will serve the final game of his three-match ban on Monday, while Christian Fuchs could return for Ben Chilwell at left-back with Claudio Ranieri expected to shuffle his squad.
Middlesbrough will welcome back defender Antonio Barragan after he was suspended for the New Year's Eve defeat to Manchester United.
Karanka will consider making changes after 90 intense minutes at Old Trafford, with Gaston Ramirez likely to be restored and Viktor Fischer (knee) still struggling.
Middlesbrough are winless in their last 13 league games against Leicester (D7 L6), since a 1-0 win at the Riverside Stadium in March 2002.
Indeed, Middlesbrough's 13-game winless run against Leicester is their longest current winless streak against any team.
The Foxes twice came from behind to draw 2-2 in the reverse fixture in November, thanks to penalties from Mahrez and Slimani.
Leicester have scored exactly two goals in five of their last six league meetings with Boro.
Middlesbrough have won as many Premier League games at the Riverside in their last five games as they did in their previous 21 (3).
Leicester's return of two points from their first nine away games of the season is the joint-lowest total by a defending top-flight champion (alongside Blackburn in 1995-96 and Derby in 1972-73).
Indeed, the Foxes are winless in their last 11 Premier League away games, drawing four and losing seven.
Slimani has now scored 15 of his 33 league goals since the start of last season from headers (45%).
13 of Middlesbrough's 16 Premier League wins since the start of 2008 have come at the Riverside Stadium.
Alvaro Negredo has had a hand in five of Middlesbrough's last seven goals in the Premier League (four goals, one assist).
After teams like Burnley and Bournemouth won on New Year's Eve, it's important for Middlesbrough to win this one. They need to win home games like this. They were unlucky at Old Trafford on Saturday when they were 1-0 up and maybe could have had a penalty, but conceded two goals in barely a minute to lose the game.
I think they will win this game because I don't think Leicester are great. They have struggled this season, but had a big result against West Ham to take the pressure off, so I think there will be more intensity in Boro's game.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0
Sky Bet are struggling to find a favourite at the Riverside, with Middlesbrough 7/4 and Leicester only slightly bigger at 9/5, while the draw can be backed at 21/10.
Boro will no doubt look to build from the back and are 3/1 to win to nil, which has been the case for all three home victories this season. Leicester are still without Jamie Vardy but Islam Slimani filled the void against West Ham, and the summer signing is 9/4 to score again.
Sky Bet also offer a Price Boost for this one, with Negredo and Mahrez both to score enhanced from 9/1 to 12/1.
