Leicester: Premier League fixtures, injury latest ahead of season restart
Sky Sports will show 64 live Premier League games when season resumes; 25 matches available on both Sky Sports Premier League and Sky's free-to-air Pick channel
Friday 3 July 2020 18:35, UK
The Premier League is back - but what shape are Leicester in for the season restart?
Ahead of the Premier League's return this month, we run the rule over Brendan Rodgers' side, from fixtures and fitness to the manager's view and more...
- Leicester - match highlights so far
- Premier League - the new kick-offs and dates
- Premier League table - as it stands
Analysis: Time for Foxes to seize their moment
Sky Sports' Jordan Halford:
Brendan Rodgers has shaken off a bout of coronavirus and is raring to go ahead of Leicester's remaining 10 games, with the prospect of guiding the Foxes into the Champions League for only the second time in their 136-year history a distinct possibility. City recovered from their wobble after a shock Carabao Cup semi-final exit at the hands of lowly Aston Villa with a 4-0 romp of Dean Smith's side in the final game before the suspension of the Premier League and still have three of the bottom six left to play.
Rodgers may have suffered his first defeat in cup competitions in 31 games, but with the Foxes also in the quarter-final of the FA Cup and with another assault on Europe's elite in their own hands, there's no better time for the Foxes to seize their moment. How sweet it would be for Leicester to guarantee a Champions League spot at the expense of Harry Maguire's Manchester United at the King Power Stadium on the final day, even if it is behind closed doors.
Leicester stunned the football world four years ago when they defied odds of 5,000-1 to win the Premier League and few would bet against them from disrupting the big six again this year. The Foxes have proved they have staying power before and under Rodgers, at least, it seems they will go the distance.
Who have they got left to play?
The Foxes restart their campaign with a visit to former manager Nigel Pearson's Watford.
City beat the then-managerless Hornets 2-0 back in December to record a seventh consecutive top-flight win, equalling a club record that was set in March 1963, but Vicarage Road hasn't been a happy hunting ground of late having lost their last three trips 2-1.
Leicester then host Brighton and travel to Everton, either side of an FA Cup quarter-final clash with Chelsea, in the hope of reaching the last four of the competition for the first time since 1982.
Leicester's confirmed Premier League restart dates
Saturday, June 20
Watford vs Leicester
Kick-Off: 12.30pm
Tuesday, June 23
Leicester vs Brighton
Kick-Off: 6pm; Live on Sky Sports
Wednesday, July 1
Everton vs Leicester
Kick-Off: 6pm; Live on Sky Sports
Saturday July 4
Leicester City vs Crystal Palace
Kick-Off: 3pm; Live on Sky Sports, Sky Pick
Tuesday July 7
Arsenal vs Leicester
Kick-Off: 8.15pm; Live on Sky Sports
Sunday July 12
Bournemouth vs Leicester
Kick-Off: 7pm; Live on Sky Sports, Sky Pick
Leicester fixtures: Dates and times to be confirmed
Leicester City vs Sheffield United
Tottenham vs Leicester City
Leicester City vs Manchester United
Where can they finish?
Rodgers' side currently sit in third place but remain four points adrift of Manchester City having played a game more.
They do, however, lead Chelsea by five points and have an eight-point cushion over Manchester United in fifth, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team to play at home on the final day.
In the unlikely event of a fifth-placed finish, this could still seal Champions League football if Manchester City's European ban - one they are appealing - is upheld.
Man City's potential ban - and the fact they have already won the Carabao Cup - could deliver Europa League football for the sides that finish sixth and seventh.
Should Leicester also win the FA Cup - and Man City's ban be upheld - the Europa League second-round qualifying spot would go to whoever finishes eighth.
Modelling by Experimental361 favours the status quo, with a third-placed finish calculated at 80 per cent, a fourth-placed finish 15 per cent and the unlikely event of finishing outside the top-four given a likelihood of just four per cent.
Any other commitments?
Leicester are in the last eight of the FA Cup having beaten Wigan Athletic, Brentford and Birmingham City so far.
Their quarter-final tie against Chelsea will take place on June 27, with the semi-finals and finals scheduled at Wembley on July 18/19 and August 1 respectively.
The Foxes hold the record for reaching the most finals without winning the trophy in 1949, 1961, 1963, 1969 and the FA Cup is the only domestic honour to elude them in their 136-year history.
They have also been eliminated in the quarter-finals at the hands of Chelsea twice in succession.
Is everyone fit and available?
The Foxes will be without current player of the season, Ricardo Pereira, who is continuing his rehabilitation following knee surgery after suffering cruciate ligament damage in the 4-0 win over Aston Villa in March, the final Premier League match before the coronavirus pandemic caused the suspension of the Premier League.
The 26-year-old Portugal defender underwent an operation in late March and has made the most tackles in the Premier League this season with 118 tackles made (2,520 minutes), plus adding three goals and two assists from right-back.
Rodgers has no other injury concerns to worry about.
What form were they in before the break?
Leicester had been in scintillating form earlier in the season, setting a club record of eight top-flight wins in a row with a 4-1 demolition of Aston Villa back in December.
However, the Foxes have stumbled since then taking just 14 points from a subsequent 13 league games including a shock 3-2 aggregate defeat to Villa in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
They did inflict revenge of sorts with a 4-0 thumping of Dean Smith's strugglers in the last Premier League game on March 9 before the suspension due to coronavirus, to end a run of four league games without a win following their League Cup exit against their Midlands rivals.
What's the manager said?
Rodgers revealed he had tested positive for coronavirus shortly after the Premier League season was suspended, becoming the second top-flight manager after Arsenal's Mikel Arteta.
The Leicester boss said that both he and his wife tested positive after displaying symptoms but have both fully recovered.
He told the Daily Mail, 'It was like a flu initially. You lose your strength. The headache you get, it is so specific, you find it on one side of your head. And it was the breathlessness of it. I can see why it would affect people with respiratory issues so badly.'
He's now back on the training pitch ahead of City's visit to Vicarage Road and revealed that he was inspired by the Netflix documentary The Last Dance, a 10-part series highlighting Michael Jordan's relentless pursuit of six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.
As The Foxes hope to qualify for the Champions League for only the second time in their history, he said: "If you want to know what being elite is and what being at the very top level in terms of preparation is, and focus and improvement and being better and winning, this is what you should be watching."
The betting - Vardy to win the Golden Boot?
With the Foxes 1/7 to clinch a top-four finish with Sky Bet, Jamie Vardy remains the favourite to clinch the golden boot at 15/8.
The 33-year-old striker has scored 19 goals in 26 league outings this season, two more than his nearest challenger Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has netted 17.
Vardy to win the Golden Boot - 15/8 with Sky Bet
Watch the Premier League with Sky Sports
Sky Sports will show 64 live Premier League games when the season resumes. In addition to the 39 matches already scheduled to be broadcast exclusively live on Sky Sports before the coronavirus interruption, 25 more matches will be available on both Sky Sports Premier League and Sky's free-to-air Pick channel, allowing the whole nation to be part of the return of live sport.
Free-to-watch highlights of every remaining Premier League game this season will be available from shortly after the full-time whistle on the Sky Sports website, Sky Sports App and Sky Sports Football YouTube channel.
