Everton make their way to the King Power Stadium as they look to heap on the misery for struggling title defenders Leicester City. Claudio Ranieri wouldn’t have anticipated such a slump in form from his lads who won the title this year. The loss of N’Golo Kante and the subsequent underperformance from the midfield shows exactly what he was offering. But Vardy’s form is also a concern for the Foxes. After breaking all sorts of records, this season his shocking loss of form has sparked murmurs of the player being a one-season wonder from the critics. But their team spirit was on show against Stoke and there is hope that Ranieri will eventually guide his team to a far more respectable league standing.
Everton, on the other hand, are looking a lot more sorted. Ronald Koeman came in with lots of expectations and the fact that he was supposedly given the green light to make the desired signings made the fans more expectant. There haven’t been any major alarms till now and other than Romelu Lukaku’s recurring goal-droughts, the team has looked well-settled. There will likely be some additions in January in light of the injury to Yannick Bolasie. With the team looking fairly well-settled, an encouraging 2nd half of the season is on the cards for the Goodison Park outfit.
TRIVIA
- Leicester did the double over Everton last season on their way to the title, the first time they had done that since 1985/86. However, these are Everton’s only defeats to Leicester in 13 league games (W2 D9).
- The Foxes haven’t won a Premier League Boxing Day match since beating Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 in 1998 (D1 L5).
- Everton are unbeaten in their last four Premier League away games on Boxing Day, scoring exactly one goal in each match (W2 D2 L0).
- Leicester City have won just 17 points from their 17 games this season – that’s less than half the tally they had at this stage in their title-winning 2015-16 campaign (38 points).
- The Foxes have conceded a goal in each of their last 10 Premier League games – only bottom of the league side Hull are on a longer run without a clean sheet in the competition (15 games without one).
- Everton have lost four successive Premier League away games – they haven’t lost five in a row on the road since January 2015.
TEAM NEWS
LEICESTER CITY
Leicester striker Jamie Vardy begins a three-game ban after his appeal against a red card at Stoke was rejected.
Christian Fuchs and Robert Huth are also suspended after accumulating five bookings, while Danny Drinkwater faces a fitness test.
EVERTON
Everton’s James McCarthy is out for three weeks after injuring a hamstring during the Merseyside derby defeat.
Maarten Stekelenburg is a doubt after a collision in the same match but Leighton Baines is fit.
PREDICTED LINE-UPS
LEICESTER CITY (4-4-1-1)
Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Hernandez, Chilwell; Mahrez, Drinkwater, Amartey, Albrighton; Okazaki, Slimani
EVERTON (4-2-3-1)
Robles; Coleman, Williams, Funes Mori, Baines; Barry, Gueye; Lennon, Barkley, Valencia; Lukaku
BETTING ODDS
LEICESTER CITY- 7/5
DRAW- 23/10
EVERTON- 2/1
TRIVIA COURTESY- OPTA
