Leicester City vs. Chelsea, Premier League: Preview, team news, how to watch
Yesterday at 06:29 PM
The Enzo Maresca Derby
Barely six months ago, Enzo Maresca was parading down the streets of Leicester, literally, celebrating their promotion back to the Premier League that he himself masterminded. He returns this weekend for the first time since, hoping for nothing less than victory against his former charges and supporters. Football!
Events of that last season are probably quite far from Maresca's mind now, with the head coach looking to engineer a more long-term recovery project at Stamford Bridge, returning the Blues not only to trophy-winning, title-challenging ways, but setting the foundation for sustained success under the BlueCo administration.
It's a tall ask, but Enzo's made a decent fist of things so far. Chelsea sit fourth just past the quarter-mark of the season. There's a long way to go, both in the season and especially the project, but the start has been solid enough. Now it's time to keep building.
Date / Time: Saturday, November 23, 2024, 12.30 GMT; 7:30am EST; 6pm IST
Venue: King Power Stadium, Leicester
Not-coked up referee, probably: Andy Madley (on pitch); Paul Tierney (VAR)
Forecast: gusty winds and heavy rain, as if the kickoff time, familiar entanglements, and post-international window timing weren't bad enough omens
On TV: TNT Sports (UK); USA, Universo (USA); Star Sports Select HD1 (India); SuperSport Premier League, Canal+ (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: discovery+ (UK); NBC Sports Live, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (USA); Disney+ Hotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Leicester City team news: Leicester have made a serviceable start to life back in the big time, sitting three points clear of the drop after eleven games, albeit with just two wins. In fact, they've not taken points off anyone currently higher than tenth (Spurs). But that's a workable recipe for survival, and Maresca's replacement, Steve Cooper looks on course to do just that (despite some growing discontent among the locals).
Other than the coaching staff and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall decamping to Chelsea, Leicester managed to keep their other important players. And then they spent upwards of £50m to add some Premier League-proven options, including the likes of Jordan Ayew, Odsonne Edouard (on loan), Oliver Skipp, and Bobby Decordova-Reid, as well as some promising young talent like Genk's Bilal El Khannouss and Atalanta's Caleb Okoli. Okoli's addition has not shored up their defense however, having conceded the fourth-most goals so far in the league.
At the other end of the pitch, Jamie Vardy's somehow still having a party at 372 years of age, though he's dealing with a back injury like the old man that he is and may not be fully fit. An even bigger miss may be the absence of Abdul Fatawu, who's been ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL.
Chelsea team news: Speaking of tragic injury news, Reece James is back in the treatment room and is about to have a scan on his latest hamstring injury. The vibes around this are terrible and I'm expecting some truly horrendous prognosis.
Other than Reecey, everyone else should be available, at least to some extent. Even Jadon Sancho was back in training this week, while all those who skipped out on international duty appear to be reaping the fitness-rewards of that. Though Romeo Lavia was trending the opposite way during the break, so that's something to keep an eye on.
Chelsea have had one of the toughest schedules of the first couple months, but now the fixture list truly gets busy as we head into the festive period, so the challenges ahead are not going to be much easier.
Previously: We're unbeaten in six (five wins) against Leicester across all competitions, including a 4-2 win in last year's FA Cup quarterfinals.
