Leicester vs Cardiff preview: Claude Puel wants Foxes to maintain momentum
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Saturday 29 December 2018 08:39, UK
Claude Puel wants Leicester to maintain their winning momentum in the Premier League when they host Cardiff on Saturday.
The Foxes have beaten Chelsea and Manchester City over the festive period and manager Puel wants his side to keep up their fine performances as they head into 2019.
He said: "These two games were fantastic challenges and we created the upset. Okay, it's good, it's perfect, but now we need to maintain a consistency and our mentality.
"They are special games because we played great teams with a lot of possession and a good organisation. We made a fantastic work on the pitch with the right mentality, a positive attitude.
"We play against Cardiff in the next game, it will be a different game. We must keep this feeling and togetherness."
Meanwhile, Cardiff boss Neil Warnock says he is proud of how his side have faced adversity since he took charge in October 2016, saying: "In the last couple of years we've had challenges thrown at us all the time.
"We've run where we should be walking, we've actually had to sprint! First of all it was to avoid relegation to League One, then to try to get a squad to compete in the Championship, then when we were up there to try and keep us up.
"Then when we got promotion, can we improve the squad and now can we stay in the league? Every six months it's been an absolute battle for us, maximum requirements."
Team news
Leicester have no new injuries heading into Saturday's game, with Matty James and Daniel Amartey still long-term absentees.
Callum Paterson faces a fitness test for Cardiff after he picked up a knee injury in the 5-1 defeat to Manchester United last weekend and missed the 0-0 Boxing Day draw at Crystal Palace.
Aron Gunnarsson and Harry Arter are likely to return in midfield after being rested at Selhurst Park, but Kenneth Zohore (thigh), Jazz Richards (hamstring) and Danny Ward (knee) remain out.
Opta stats
Leicester won the reverse fixture against Cardiff 1-0 this season - they last won consecutive games against the Bluebirds in all competitions in September 2010.
Cardiff City have not scored more than twice in a game versus Leicester in all competitions in any of their last 12 clashes.
Leicester City have won seven of their last 10 Premier League games against newly-promoted teams (D2 L1).
No side has scored fewer goals in the opening 15 minutes of Premier League games this season than either Leicester or Cardiff (1, level with Crystal Palace).
Leicester are looking to win three consecutive Premier League games for the first time since a run of four in December 2017.
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No side has won more points from losing positions in the Premier League this season than Leicester (12, level with Arsenal).
Cardiff are winless in 11 Premier League away games (D2 L9), with the Bluebirds failing to score on seven occasions in that run.
Just one of Cardiff's last eight Premier League goals has been scored before half-time.
Leicester's Jamie Vardy has played three league games against Cardiff without scoring - he's only faced Blackpool and Hull (4 each) more often in the English Football League without scoring.
Merson's prediction
This is after the Lord Mayor's show [for Leicester] after those back-to-back wins over Chelsea and Man City. Confidence will be sky high after those two. Cardiff got a great result at Palace, following on from their hammering at Man Utd, but Leicester are flying at the moment and scoring goals. Take away these two results it hasn't been that great recently, but things could be changing at Leicester.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (10/1 with Sky Bet)
