Both of these sides should have enough to stay up in the Premier League this season but will still be looking over their shoulder a bit after a couple of bad results.
Stoke are currently sitting 12th in the league, but have not won in two matches, albeit against Arsenal and Southampton, so will feel the need to beat Leicester in order to reboot themselves a bit. They had won five out of their last seven matches before that defeat to Arsenal so have shown that they do have the ability to go on another winning run.
Goals have been hard to come by for Mark Hughes’ team this season having found the back of the net just 17 times in 16 games whilst they have only scored three goals in a match on one occasion so far. This rather painful statistic is somewhat numbed by Stoke’s defensive record. Whilst the ‘Goals Against’ column shows a rather high 22 conceded, apart from that 3-1 loss to title-chasers Arsenal, The Potters have not let in more than one goal in a match since mid-September, keeping five clean sheets in that time.
Of course the one thing you are pretty much guaranteed with Stoke every season is good home form and it is no different this campaign with Hughes’ men winning three and losing just one of their last five league matches at the Bet365 Stadium. This will certainly be a challenge for a Leicester side who have been poor on their travels.
The defending champions were absolutely sensational when they dismantled title favourites Manchester City last weekend but it was back to normal (as far as this season goes) on Tuesday night as they traveled down to AFC Bournemouth and lost 1-0, thus extending their unwanted away record of just one point from a possible 24. With just one Premier League loss at home since September 2015, it has been this abysmal form on the road which means The Foxes sit in a lowly 14th and just four points above safety.
Goals have not been a problem for Claudio Ranieri’s side, even away from home, and they have found the back of the net in all but one of the last eight matches. However, unlike last season where their defence was solid as a rock, they are all over the place at the back at the moment with 27 goals conceded in 16 matches and no clean sheet since early-October. The loss of N’Golo Kante in the summer was obviously huge but it seems Leicester lack the same determination in defence that they had last season.
With Stoke looking good at home and Leicester absolutely shocking away from the King Power, I can only see a home win here and will certainly be backing it at a surprisingly good 13/8.
See Saturday’s Championship tips here.