Swansea City will look to erase the memories of what they would hope was an aberration against Manchester City when they welcome struggling Champions Leicester City to the Liberty Stadium. Although the Swans did put up a strong fight in the 2nd half against the Sky Blues, Paul Clement knows that at this stage of the season, what actually matters are points and he will be desperate to put 3 points on the board against the Foxes.
After a horrible first half of the season, Clement has shown that he has the pedigree to get the best out of the team and they can indeed clamour to safety if they manage to prolong this phase of good form. Leicester City can ill afford to lose these games but the run of form they are in, it will take a humongous effort from their side to even beat the Swans.
TRIVIA
- Since beating Leicester in their first Premier League meeting in October 2014, the Swans have lost each of their last four, scoring once and conceding 11.
- However, the Foxes’ 3-0 victory at Liberty Stadium last season ended a run of three consecutive league defeats there, two of which were in the Championship.
- None of the last 12 meetings in all competitions between these sides has ended as a draw, with Leicester winning nine and Swansea three.
- Riyad Mahrez scored a hat-trick in this exact fixture last season, the first scored by a Leicester player in an away Premier League game.
- Leicester are the only Premier League side yet to score a goal in 2017 and have gone five games without one. The last top-flight side to fail to score in their opening six games of a calendar year were Stoke City in 1985.
- Swansea have already conceded 54 Premier League goals this season – the joint-most they have ever done in a Premier League season (also 54 in 2013-14).
- The Foxes remain without an away win in the Premier League since a 2-0 victory at Sunderland last April – they are on a run of 14 games without a win (D5 L9). Only once before in the Premier League have they had a longer winless away run, going 16 games without a win between December 2001 and October 2003.
- Last season, Jamie Vardy (10) and Riyad Mahrez (12) scored a combined 22 goals away from home in the Premier League – this season they have scored three (Vardy on one, Mahrez with two).
TEAM NEWS & PREDICTED LINE-UPS
SWANSEA CITY (4-3-3)
New signing Jordan Ayew could make his Swansea City debut against Leicester on Sunday after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations. Ki Sung-Yeung and Jefferson Montero are definitely ruled out, while Leon Britton is a doubt with a recurring calf problem.
Fabianski; Naughton, Fernandez, Mawson, Olsson; Fer, Cork, Carroll; Narsingh, Llorente, Sigurdsson
LEICESTER CITY (4-4-2)
Leicester striker Islam Slimani was an injury doubt but did have a few minutes in the FA Cup clash. Ranieri could assess the Algerian’s fitness prior to the game. Leonardo Ulloa is definitely still ruled out with a thigh issue.
Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs; Mahrez, Drinkwater, Ndidi, Albrighton; Slimani, Vardy
BETTING ODDS
SWANSEA CITY- 7/5
DRAW- 23/10
LEICESTER CITY- 9/4
TRIVIA COURTESY- OPTA
