Life without Aguero officially starts for Manchester City when they travel to the King Power Stadium where they will be facing defending Champions, Leicester City. Both the teams are coming off losses. The Sky Blues suffered a demoralising 3-1 loss against Chelsea at the Etihad and also saw ensuing suspensions for 3 of their players. Aguero got a 4-match ban with Fernandinho the recipient of a 3-match suspension while 5 yellow cards for Otamendi sees him miss the match.
Leicester, on the other hand, are on the back of a 5-0 mauling at the hands of FC Porto. But the Foxes will want to clear that thought as they can embark on a 2-month run with only the PremierLeague to focus on. Their mainstays of last season have not performed up to the mark till now. But they are expected to regain their form sooner rather than later.
TRIVIA
Manchester City haven’t lost an away game to Leicester in the Premier League (D2 L3), with their last top-flight league defeat in Leicester coming in March 1987.
Claudio Ranieri has won seven of his eight Premier League games against Manchester City, with the only draw coming at the King Power Stadium last season.
Manchester City have won their last six fixtures against defending champions in the Premier League, last losing to Chelsea in March 2011.
Riyad Mahrez has created just one goalscoring chance for Jamie Vardy in the Premier League this season so far, despite them playing 939 mins together. Last season, the Algerian created 22 chances for him (with five of those being assists) in 2815 mins together on the pitch – one every 128 mins.
In the last five Premier League matches that Sergio Aguero hasn’t appeared in for Manchester City, Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho has scored five goals.
TEAM NEWS
LEICESTER CITY
Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is back in training after a hand injury and might be involved against his former club on Saturday.
Nampalys Mendy only returned from injury in midweek and will not start, while Danny Drinkwater is still banned.
MANCHESTER CITY
Manchester City trio Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho and Nicolas Otamendi are all serving suspensions.
Raheem Sterling is fit after missing two games with a knee injury and Fabian Delph has overcome a groin problem.
PREDICTED LINE-UPS
LEICESTER CITY (4-4-1-1)
Zieler; Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Fuchs; King, Gray; Albrighton, Mahrez; Okazaki, Vardy
MANCHESTER CITY (4-1-4-1)
Bravo; Sagna, Stones, Kolarov, Clichy; Fernando; Silva, Gundogan; De Bruyne, Sterling; Iheanacho
BETTING ODDS
LEICESTER CITY- 17/4
DRAW- 3/1
MANCHESTER CITY- 7/10
TRIVIA COURTESY- OPTA
