It’s already February and the Foxes of Leicester City still aren’t fading away. This season’s surprise package surged back to the top of the Barclays Premier League table with a big home win last time out. They’ll look to hold onto that precious top spot during midweek, when they host an unpredictable Liverpool side that’s desperate for a win.
Get a full breakdown of this all-important midweek matchup. And for more awesome BPL action, check out our preview of Arsenal vs. Southampton.
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Leicester City vs. Liverpool Preview
Where: King Power Stadium, Leicester
When: Tuesday, February 2, 2:45 PM ET
Line: Leicester City +149 vs. Liverpool +163, tie +205; total 2.5 – view all EPL lines
Betting on Leicester City (13-8-2, 47 pts)
After consecutive goalless draws in their last two home games, Leicester City finally rediscovered their scoring touch at home as they smoked Stoke City, 3-0, on Jan. 23. Top scorer Jamie Vardy was finally back among the goals for the first time since mid-December as he notched his league-leading 16th goal of the campaign.
Having their main man back to some sort of form will be crucial to the Foxes, who have seen their goals dry up along with Vardy’s recent slump. They’d only scored two goals in their last five prior to the Stoke match.Leicester have only scored 19 goals at home this season, in large part because opponents have been able to snuff out their counter-attacking style by sitting back and denying them space.
However, Liverpool have been involved in some high-scoring shootouts lately (3-3 vs. Arsenal and 5-4 at Norwich) as Jurgen Klopp goes through some growing pains with his new team. Don’t be surprised if the Foxes continue to find spaces to exploit in and around a shaky Liverpool backline.
Meanwhile, Leicester’s defense has remained pretty resolute, particularly at home. That solidity has helped the Foxes go unbeaten in their last seven at the King Power Stadium, with four wins and three draws.
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Betting on Liverpool (9-7-7, 34 pts)
Liverpool still aren’t clicking as expected under Jurgen Klopp. Although, they did record a much needed win against Norwich to end a four-match winless run which began, oddly enough, after they beat Leicester at Anfield on Boxing Day.
Klopp has yet to find that right mix between attack and defense. Defending, in particular, should be high on his priorities with his team shipping in 10 goals in the past four games.
On the bright side, though, Roberto Firmino is finally beginning to show his full potential in recent matches. The Brazilian has blossomed after Klopp made him the focal point of the Reds attack. He bagged a brace against Arsenal, and he did so again at Norwich.
Klopp still had the struggling Christian Benteke lumbering around as the lone striker in their first meeting against Leicester. Having the much more dynamic Firmino up front this time around will bring a different dimension to the match, and could once again tip the scales in Liverpool’s favor.
But as good as Firmino has been, the team as a whole has still been pretty inconsistent in producing complete performances. That makes it tough to entirely trust them to pull out a big result against a very good team away from home.
Writer’s Prediction
Both teams have enough flaws that don’t inspires much confidence in winning this one straight up. Leicester and Liverpool play out a goal-filled 2-2 draw (+205).
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