Seven Foxes players in Covid worries, Fabian Schar and Ryan Fraser available; watch Leicester vs Newcastle live on Super Sunday on Sky Sports Premier League from 1pm; kick-off 2pm.
Sunday 12 December 2021 13:32, UK
Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Leicester vs Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday; kick-off 2pm.
Leicester continue to monitor their players ahead of Sunday's game against Newcastle amid a Covid outbreak at the club.
Kelechi Iheanacho, Ayoze Perez, Jannik Vestergaard, Daniel Amartey, Ademola Lookman, Filip Benkovic and Vontae Daley-Campbell all missed the defeat to Napoli due to illness or for coronavirus-related reasons.
Youri Tielemans returned from a five-match absence with a calf injury to start the match in Naples and the midfielder, having played 77 minutes, is expected to be involved again.
Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe hopes to have Fabian Schar and Ryan Fraser available.
Defender Schar missed training at the start of the week because of a rib problem, while winger Fraser sat out last Saturday's 1-0 win over Burnley with a minor hamstring issue, but both are expected to be fit for the trip to the King Power Stadium.
Ciaran Clark returns from suspension, but fellow defender Paul Dummett continues to work his way back from a calf injury.
Leicester vs Newcastle is live on Sky Sports Premier League from 1pm; kick-off 2pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.
Leicester remain a team I have no faith in defensively. Brendan Rodgers has got his attacking process moving in the right direction but the whole defensive structure of the team is wobbly to say the least.
They rank near the bottom in all the main defensive categories. Only Newcastle have faced more shots (235) and only Norwich and Watford have faced more shots on target (78). They have not kept a clean sheet in their last 16 matches across all competitions. And, the two goals shipped to Ezri Konsa in the defeat at Villa, means it's now 10 goals conceded from set pieces - the joint-most with Palace.
Teams that move the ball quickly through the phases are finding opportunities easy to come by. Newcastle have shown already under Eddie Howe that the key to their survival will be utilising their difference makers in attack. They have the tools to make this a difficult afternoon for the Foxes, whose preparations won't have been helped by their trip to Napoli in midweek and growing cases of Covid within the camp.
I'm happy to take Leicester on at odds-on but their attack has the ability to slice through a flaky Newcastle defence, too.
That means I have no strong urge to back a positive Newcastle result either. Mind you, I do want to get involved in Newcastle's corner count in this one, with them to win the corner count with a +2 handicap at Evens - meaning we'll get a return if Newcastle win more corners, have the same amount of corners or have one less corner than the hosts.
Since Howe arrived, the Toon's more adventurous approach can be seen through the amount of corners being won. Against Brentford they won eight and they won 10 in the win over Burnley. Facing a defensively shot team like Leicester should yield the same type of numbers and that will be enough to bag the Evens shot.
SCORE PREDICTION: 2-2
BETTING ANGLE: Newcastle +2 corner handicap (Evens with Sky Bet)
Alice Piper is joined by Sky Sports football journalists Ron Walker, Charlotte Marsh and Ben Grounds to look ahead to the Premier League weekend.
PART 1 | Ralf Rangnick's start at Manchester United goes under the microscope ahead of their trip to Norwich. Plus, Steven Gerrard goes back to Anfield for the first time as a manager, when Aston Villa face Liverpool. We look at his start in the Midlands and that romantic return.
PART 2 | Leicester host Newcastle on Sunday, with Eddie Howe looking to land back-to-back wins for the Magpies. We assess their chances of doing that. Plus, after Everton's last-gasp win over Arsenal, we build up to their Super Sunday clash with Crystal Palace and debate what Rafa Benitez must do to build on that victory.
PART 3 | We preview the Friday Night Football clash between Brentford and Watford, which starts a pivotal run of games for Claudio Ranieri's side, and also take a look at Chelsea's recent drop in form.
