Leicester City vs Chelsea FC, Premier League 2022-2023, Today Match Prediction

Leicester City vs Chelsea FC Match Prediction & Analysis

Chelsea travel to the King Power Stadium looking for their third consecutive victory in all competitions, after what has been a better week for Graham Potter’s men.

Following a narrow, hard-fought victory over Leeds at the weekend, the Blues overturned a 1-0 deficit from their Champions League first leg against Borussia Dortmund to progress.

It’s the slice of luck that Graham Potter needed, but it’ll amount to very little if they don’t back it up with more results like that going forward.

Rather than looking up the table, Leicester are definitely checking over their shoulders right now. Just two points separate them from the drop zone and their form is worrying to say the least.

Brendan Rodgers needs his own slice of fortune but he’ll only find angry fans if they lose for what will be their fourth successive game here.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Leicester City Preview

Reasons to be cheerful:

     Victory could take them as high as 12th 

     Maddison, Barnes and Evans should push through fitness issues to play a part

Reasons to be fearful:

     Just one win from their last six home games against Chelsea

     And they lost this fixture 3-0 last season

Leicester’s survival chances are one of the more finely balanced in the league right now, considering their position, points on the board and the experience of their manager and players.

Brendan Rodgers is an experienced manager but hasn’t been able to get much from this group of players this season. They have gone out of cup competitions with a whimper and stuttered in the league.

Just as they start to build some momentum, they go and lose a series of games. Victory here would certainly help, of course. It could lift them above several teams into 12th if other results were to go their way.

Positively, the likes of Maddison and Barnes should be fit to start, while experienced defender Jonny Evans is back in contention after a spell on the treatment table.

Their record against Chelsea is poor, however, and they’ll need a super performance to get anything here.

Star Man – James Maddison

For a long time, it feels as though Maddison, perhaps alongside Harvey Barnes, has been carrying this Leicester side. They would be far worse off than they already are without him, for sure.

Chelsea FC Preview

Reasons to be cheerful

     Back-to-back wins this week will have lifted the mood

     Could win the league double over Leicester with victory here

Reasons to be fearful

     Are the only side in the top 10 with a negative goal difference

     Can they keep up this level of consistency?

After consecutive victories, the main question for Graham Potter and his team will be whether they can now keep this up.

Their league form so far in 2023 has been dire, winning just two games and losing four. Their top-half league status is firmly under threat by Aston Villa, who have drawn level on points.

That Champions League victory in midweek should lift the mood at the club after a tough few months. Everton and Aston Villa are next up after this game, before a crunch test against Liverpool at the start of April.

A strong win here could set the Blues up nicely for that key run of fixtures.

Star Man – Kai Havertz

Much has been made of whether Havertz is good enough to lead the line for Chelsea but if he plays like he did against Dortmund in midweek, his position doesn’t matter.