Leicester City vs Chelsea – English Premier League – Preview

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Sreya

Chelsea, the defending champions of English Premier League will travel to King Power Stadium on Monday as they take on Leicester City, who are the form side in England’s top flight at the moment.

It has been quite the turn of fortunes for the two clubs this season. While Chelsea languish at the fifteenth position with just fifteen points to their name, coming straight off a 1-0 defeat against AFC Bournemouth at home, Leicester City will be brimming with confidence after their 3-0 win against Swansea City last week.

Team News

Matthew James is close to a return after his long spell on the sidelines, but will not be rushed into the first team. Ritchie de Laet is the other injury absentee for Claudio Ranieri’s side. Chelsea are without Radamel Falcao, who has returned to training but is yet to regain match fitness.

Thoughts From Both Camps

[The pressure] is on Chelsea a little bit. They’re not in the best of form at the moment and they should be doing a lot better. We can’t write them off because they’re a fantastic team with fantastic players.

Everyone expects them to win every game but we’re full of confidence and we should be looking to get a win. I think we just need to carry on playing how we have been. It’s worked so far this season, the boys know their jobs and their roles and we just want to continue our run.

– Claudio Ranieri, Leicester City.

We play against the team that is top of the league. A couple of weeks ago, I said it was impossible for them to win the title, but today I don’t say the same. We go to Leicester on Monday and Leicester is the favourite.

Before we lost three points against Bournemouth I was absolutely convinced about finishing fourth in the table and I was convinced about a great December for us. While it’s mathematically possible we have to try.

– Jose Mourinho, Chelsea.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Chelsea have won all of their six previous encounters against Leicester City.

With Manchester City’s victory on Saturday and Arsenal scheduled to play on Sunday, Leicester will not start the match as league leaders but the Foxes are the favorites with Chelsea losing four of their six last matches.

Although Chelsea will come into the match on the back of a morale-boosting UEFA Champions League win over FC Porto, the home side is likely to win on the basis of current form. A scoreline of 3-1 in favor of Leicester City is the most probable result.