Chelsea vs Leicester City
Date: Saturday, October 15th Time: 12.30 pm
These match promises to be interesting as both teams will be gunning for victory in this crunch encounter. Leicester City will be seeking to avenge their league cup loss to Chelsea and rave of the moment Islam Slimani will hope to guide his team to victory over Chelsea, they will also want to avoid a loss which will make this one of the worst ever starts to a title defence.
Chelsea on the other hand will realise that a defeat will spell trouble to their title ambitions as they are already 5 points behind league leaders Manchester City with only 7 games played and a defeat to Leicester will pile additional pressure on Antonio Conte.
Key Questions
Will Cesc Fabregas start?
Willian will sit this match out due to the death of his mother, but the major question on the mind of Chelsea’s fans is will Antonio Conte trust Cesc Fabregas with a starting spot. While Conte has repeatedly called out Fabregas for his defensive frailties, the Chelsea team lacks attacking bite and fervor without the talismanic Spaniard in the team.
His ability to provide accurate passes that cut through the opposition defense and provide crosses to the strikers has surely been missed as Nemanja Matic lacks the creativity that Fabregas provides to the team.
The goal scoring exploits of Diego Costa this season has been impressive and Fabregas critics will argue that his presence adds little value to the team as they can win games without him but it will be interesting to see if Fabregas gets a starting spot.
The absence of Willian means that either Victor Moses or Pedro will get an opportunity to impress in the wings for Chelsea.
Can Leicester grind out a victory?
Leicester rise towards the title last season saw them lose only 3 matches throughout the entire campaign however just seven matches into the season they have already lost 3 games.
A victory over Chelsea will give the team a much need morale boost and it could provide the catalyst they need to revive their season which is in shambles at the moment.
If Leicester are to emerge victorious they will need their star players Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to step up their game as they have both performed poorly this season.
Will Chelsea defense step up?
Chelsea’s 3-0 loss to Arsenal exposed the vulnerabilities that we have known about in the defense. The pairing of David Luiz and Gary Cahill has been a recipe for disastrous results.
This is a season in which John Terry was expected to play a bit part role but his presence and experience will be required more often than had been earlier anticipated.
Chelsea fans can’t wait for Kurt Zouma to regain full fitness but they should not expect miracles from him as this is a team in transition.
Prediction: Leicester City grind out a victory.
