Premier League: Conte Planning a Winning Return at King Power Stadium

Leicester City vs Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham can move into the top four of the Premier League table when they visit Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Saturday night.

Spurs are in fifth place with 39 points, and a win here against the Foxes puts them above Newcastle United – at least for 24 hours.

After sitting out a couple of games because he went under the knife, Antonio Conte is back in the Spurs’ dugout, and his presence would surely give his players a huge morale boost.

Their visitors, Leicester City, finally ended their drought with a much-needed victory against Aston Villa last weekend, and they need to produce more positive Premier League 2023 results to fully get out of the relegation scrap.

Talking Points

Tottenham lose their captain to injury

The Spurs are one of the most porous Premier League teams so far this season, and it doesn’t help that Hugo Lloris is out for an extended period.

Lloris sustained a knee ligament damage in Tottenham’s 1-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday. The 36-year-old has been ruled out for between six and eight weeks.

The Les Bleus star has kept seven clean sheets in 21 league games this season, so this is a huge blow to the Spurs’ backline.

Fraser Forster is the next man up for Tottenham, whom they signed this summer. Forster is a capable shot stopper, and it’ll be interesting to see how he’ll do between the sticks for Spurs.

The timing of Lloris’ injury is horrible for Tottenham, whose 2022-23 campaign was starting to turn around. Prior to this weekend, Spurs had won three consecutive games across all competitions: against Fulham and Manchester City in the Premier League, and over Preston North End to advance to the FA Cup fifth round.

Lloris has been an integral part of Spurs since he signed from Lyon more than a decade ago, and he has been their captain for eight years now.

The captain’s armband will be handed over to Harry Kane, who recently broke Jimmy Greaves’ record for most goals in Tottenham franchise history when he netted his 267^th goal against Manchester City.

Kane will link up with Heung-Min Son up front, while January signing Pedro Porro might make his much-awaited debut to replace Cristiano Romero, who was given the red card against the Sky Blues.

Tete making an impact already for Leicester City

During the January transfer window, Leicester City were in dire need of wing reinforcements, and they finally got one in Tete, who made his debut against Aston Villa.

It didn’t take too long for the young Brazilian to make an impact, as he scored right before halftime to essentially give the Foxes the lead for good after Aston Villa had two early on.

Before joining Leicester City, Tete scored six goals in 17 Ligue 1 appearances for Lyon this season, and he had an xG of 0.35 per 90 minutes.

The Foxes haven’t had a winger like Tete since Riyad Mahrez, who left the team in 2018. The 22-year-old is fast and physical, and he’s not your typical right-winger since he is left-footed.

History

Tottenham have won their last four Premier League games against Leicester City, which is their best winning run against them in their league history. During the said stretch, they edged them by an aggregate tally of 16-7.

Since returning to the Premier League in 2014, Leicester City’s games against Tottenham have produced 71 goals, the most of any fixture in the competition over the last nine years.

Leicester City have only kept one clean sheet in their 16 league home games against Tottenham, conceding at least once in each of the last 13 since a 3-0 victory in September 1997.

Their previous meeting last September was a goal fest, as Tottenham beat Leicester City 6-2 in the reverse fixture in north London.

The game featured six different scorers: Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Rodrigo Bentancur, Heung-Min Son (hat-trick), Youri Tielemans, and James Maddison.

Betting Tip

The SBOTOP Premier League 2023 odds predict a tight affair between Tottenham and Leicester City. Tottenham were given the slight edge at 2.14, while Leicester City are priced to win at 3.30, and chances for a draw are at 3.35 in the 1X2 market. When these two sides meet, they usually produce goals. In each of their last four league encounters, we have seen them score at least four goals between them, so we’re looking at Over 2.50 @ 1.76 as the safest bet.

 

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