Saturday, at 17:30, England’s day of football ends with the duel between Leicester and West Ham United, two of the bands with great tradition in the Premier League. The two bands share the same style in which they tackle the first rounds: rather cautious, with a slow pace of construction. Seconds usually bring more corners and voids!
Without recording a draw this season, Leicester is a set of contrasts, which can make great matches in front of the grandees. Last season, the “foxes” opened the Emirates score against Arsenal, but ended up losing the match 1-3, because they failed to cope with the defensive in the second half. Leicester’s games this season have scored 3.3 goals per game, and the presence of international Englishman Harry Maguire in defense is not a guarantee of safety for the Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Goaltending Festival in the Last Games!
Leicester is vulnerable to rapid strikers and West Ham has the technical means to surprise once again Claude Puel’s defenders. If Felipe Anderson is in the shape and Chicharito will be on the field, we could even witness a surprise, but bets on goals seem to have the best chances of success. In 9 of the last 12 direct duels, both teams have scored and in eight of them we saw at least three goals scored. Interestingly, the “hammers” got the first goal in 7 of the last 8 straight duels, so guests have another reason to be very cautious in the first part!
The hosts are without Matty James and Wes Morgan, injured, but Manuel Pellegrini has a much more unavailable list: Andy Carroll, Lanzini, Reid, Sanchez, Wilshere and Yarmolenko have medical problems, but the Ukrainian could be recovered in a timely manner. Leicester is ranked 11th in the standings (goal 15-15), while West Ham is in 14th place (8-14 goals) and will try to speculate the weaknesses of the hosts with a fast passing game. Very dangerous on the counter, the two rivals will attack in the second half with the guard down, according to the score on the table, and the odds offered for goals on both sides are very generous.
THE PROBABLE TEAMS
Leicester: Schmeichel – Amartey, Evans, Maguire, Chilwell – Ndidi, Mendy – R. Pereira, Iheanacho, Maddison – Vardy
West Ham: Zabaleta, Balbuena, Diop, Cresswell – Noble, Rice, Obiang – M. Antonio, Arnautovic, F. Anderson
PREDICTION: Leicester to win @ 2.12
