As the great Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson once said, it’s squeaky bum time in the English Premier League. Leicester City’s lead at the top of the league table is down to just five points after Tottenham crushed Stoke City, 4-0, on Monday. The Foxes will look to restore their eight-point advantage this coming Sunday when they lock horns with Swansea City in what will surely be a tension-filled clash at King Power Stadium.
Read on below for an in-depth breakdown of this mouth-watering clash and while you’re at it, you can check out our previews of Thunder vs. Mavs and Blazers vs. Clippers.
Leicester City stretched their unbeaten run in the Premier League to eight matches with a feisty 2-2 draw with West Ham on Sunday. Leonardo Ulloa scored a last-gasp equalizer for the Foxes who are now only four games away from grabbing their first league title. The 29-year-old has now scored a total of four goals for Leicester this season.
Ulloa will play a crucial role for Leicester City once again this coming Sunday as the Foxes will be lining up without their main striker Jamie Vardy who is out because of a one-match ban. The Englishman got the suspension after receiving a red card in their match against West Ham. Losing Vardy will be a huge blow for the Foxes, who have relied mainly on his goal-scoring exploits this campaign. Vardy leads the league in scoring this season with 22 goals to his name.
That being said, the Foxes will still fancy their chances of getting the necessary result against Swansea as they have fared extremely well at home this season. The Foxes are second in the league in points scored at home this campaign with 36. They have scored 28 goals in 17 matches played at King Power Stadium.
They will be licking their chops at the prospect of facing a Swansea backline that has conceded 27 goals on the road this season, sixth-most in the Premier League. The Swans are 14th in the league in scoring defense, allowing a whopping 45 goals this campaign. Leicester City ripped to shreds that woeful defense in their first meeting this season, thrashing Swansea, 3-0.
The Foxes are 4-2-0 in their last six Premier League home matches.
Betting on Swansea City (10-10-14, 40 pts)
Swansea City had their three-match unbeaten run in the Premier League snapped on Saturday with a humiliating 3-0 defeat to bottom side Newcastle United. It was a disappointing result for the Swans who had won on their three previous visits to St. James’ Park.
It won’t get any easier for the Swans this coming Sunday as standing in their way are Premier League leaders Leicester City. The Foxes have been simply sensational this season, grabbing 73 points in their opening 34 matches. That’s quite a turnaround for the Foxes who were sitting in 17th place at this same stage last season. To make matters worse for Swansea, they have won none of their last 11 trips to Leicester in all competitions. In fact, the Swans have lost each of their last five road games against the Foxes.
For Swansea to record a major upset against Leicester, they will need to improve on their play on the offensive end. The Swans’ attack looked out of sorts in the loss to Newcastle as they failed to score in an away Premier League game for the first time this year. They can ill afford to repeat such a performance against a Leicester defense that has kept seven clean sheets in its last nine matches at King Power Stadium.
The onus then is on Gylfi Sigurdsson to deliver an inspired showing for Swansea. The Icelandic midfielder leads the Swans in scoring this season with 11 goals. He’s the main reason why Swansea will be staying in the top flight next season. Sigurdsson has hit nine goals in the Swans’ last 15 games.
The Swans are 1-2-3 in their last six Premier League away matches.
