Leicester City will play hosts to Arsenal at the King Power Stadium on Wednesday night with both teams looking to go all out for the win so that they can secure a place in the fourth round of the EFL Cup. The Foxes will head into this contest after picking up consecutive victories over West Bromwich Albion and Burnley respectively. The Gunners have enjoyed similar success in recent weeks as they got the better of Fulham and West Ham United. We can expect to witness an exciting contest with both teams giving it their all to get the job done in midweek.
Talking Tactics
Brendan Rodgers will opt for a 4-1-4-1 formation and could make a lot of changes to his first-team for this upcoming home encounter. The Leicester boss will instruct his players to control possession across the field and orchestrate some promising goal-scoring opportunities using the creativity of James Maddison in midfield.
Mikel Arteta will probably stick with his preferred 3-4-3 formation and is expected to name a lot of young players in his starting XI. The Gunners could look to exploit the opposition’s defensive weaknesses by using the pace of Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe on the counter.
Team News
Leicester City
Both Ricardo Pereira and Filip Benković remain sidelined due to injury. However, Rodgers has no other injury concerns and will have a strong squad of players to choose from for Arsenal’s visit in midweek.
Leicester City Predicted XI
Ward, Justin, Morgan, Soyuncu, Fuchs, Mendy, Perez, Choudhury, Maddison, Albrighton, Iheanacho
Arsenal
Kieran Tierney is unlikely to be risked in this match while Gabriel Martinelli, Callum Chambers, Shkodran Mustafi and Pablo Mari will all miss out on this cup game through injury.
Arsenal Predicted XI
Leno, Saliba, Gabriel, Holding, Soares, Torreira, Ceballos, Kolasinac, Saka, Nketiah, Pepe
Key Men
Leicester City
Maddison will be Leicester’s main man in midfield, so he will be responsible for creating some clear-cut chances to score in the final third. Kelechi Iheanacho needs to step up and give a good account of himself when lacing up to lead the line for the Foxes on Wednesday. If the Nigerian forward can be lethal in front of goal, then Leicester will have a good shot at securing a positive result in midweek.
Arsenal
Arteta might depend on Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka to provide some natural width out on the flanks. The wing duo might find a lot of joy if they can get in-behind the Foxes full-backs and deliver some inviting crosses for an in-form Eddie Nketiah, who scored the winner in the London derby last weekend.
Odds
The Gunners are 6/4 favourites to win this game in midweek. The Foxes has been priced at 19/10 to emerge victorious at their own backyard while the draw has been listed at 9/4.
