Following their 3-3 draw away to S.C. Braga on Thursday night ,which saw them qualify for the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League, Leicester City have no time to rest as they are straight back into Premier League action as they face Fulham at the King Power Stadium on Monday night.
A win for the Foxes could potentially see them go level at the top of the table with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. Fulham on the other hand currently sit 19th in the league and will be looking to build on their impressive second half display in their 3-2 loss to Everton last time out.
Team News:
Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Ricardo Pereira (ACL), Wilfred Ndidi (Abductor) and Caglar Soyuncu (Abductor), will miss Monday’s game against Fulham but has said they will travel with the squad to Ukraine on Thursday to face Zorya Luhansk and hopes to include them at some point in that game.
Timothy Castagne, who has missed the past couple of months due to a hamstring injury could feature on Monday which will be a huge boost to the Foxes.
Fulham have had their fair share of injuries throughout the season so far, but Scott Parker will only be without midfielder Josh Onomah for the trip up the M1 as he recovers from a knee injury.
Predicted Line-Ups:
Leicester City: Schmeichel; Justin, Fofana, Evans, Fuchs, Thomas; Mendy, Tielemans; Maddison, Vardy, Barnes.
Fulham: Areola; Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo, Robinson; Reed, Lemina; Reid, Cairney, Lookman; Mitrovic.
Last Meeting:
The last time these two met was two seasons ago in March 2019 at the King Power Stadium.
It was Brendan Rodgers first home game as Leicester manager and also turned out to be his first win as the Foxes came out 3-1 winners thanks to two late Jamie Vardy goals.
The Foxes finished the season 9th whilst Fulham finished 19th and were ultimately relegated back down to the Championship.
Ones to Watch:
Arguably Leicester’s greatest ever player Jamie Vardy just seems to get better with age. The 33-year-old turns 34 in January and is showing no sign of slowing down any time soon.
Having come off the bench against Braga to score the equaliser, the Englishman showed once again why he’s not just one of the best finishers in the Premier League, but in world football. He already has 10 goals in all competitions this season and you’d expect him to get himself a goal or two against Fulham who have a defence that just can’t seem to stop conceding.
Aleksandar Mitrovic
The Serbian international is now in his third season with Fulham and is one of the most physical players in the Premier League. Even though he only has two league goals this season he is still a very dangerous player and with Leicester’s defensive strength of Wesley Fofana and Jonny Evans, Mitrovic will prove a vital player if Fulham are going to get anything out of this game.
Pre-Match thoughts:
December is the busiest time of the year for Premier League clubs with fixtures coming every couple of days and after the Fulham game Leicester face eight games in a month which will obviously have serious strain on Brendan Rodgers squad.
Speaking on the fixture congestion Rodgers said: "The games being close together is obviously going to always be a tough ask, but the players have been outstanding in their work.”
He added: "They’ve known that this is what we’d said at the beginning of the season. You have to be ready every day, recover well, and adapt to each game, with European football."
How to Watch:
Coverage of the game is available in the UK on Sky Sports Premier League with pre match build up starting at 5:00pm for a 5:30pm kick off.
Alternatively, you can also follow VAVEL's LIVE text commentary throughout the evening.