Match Preview: Leicester City vs Crystal Palace

Leicester City 8th (7-5-5) vs Crystal Palace 18th (3-5-9)

Saturday 7:30 AM ET, King Power Stadium Live on NBCSN

The Foxes made sure Claude Puel’s homecoming in Southampton was a glorious one. Up three goals in 38 minutes and, despite a few scares, still managed to see them off very easily.

The Competition

For a side that took eight matches in the league to score their first goal of the season, Palace are finally finding that goal rhythm. They’ve scored at least two goals in four of their last six matches played, including a stunning injury time comeback over Watford on Tuesday.

Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Wilfried Zaha has been a major part of the Eagle’s quite stunning turnaround in the league. His assist in the waning minutes of their match against Watford meant, at the time being, they were out of the relegation zone. They’ve since fallen back into it, only on goal difference. Yohan Cabaye is another threat for the Foxes to keep an eye on Saturday. He’s managed three assists in the league so far, and just this April spurred on a comeback against Leicester down 2-0 to make the honors shared at 2-2.

The Foxes

Shinji Okazaki played a full 90 minutes. Andy King scored another goal for Leicester City. Is there anything Claude Puel can’t do? Leicester’s worthy 3 goal cushion also allowed him to rest the likes of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez! One man, who I sure hope got some rest, is Wilfred Ndidi. Ndidi is one of the top tacklers so far this season at 74 and is on pace to pass Ngolo Kante’s 175 tackles from the title winning season!

Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images

The Prediction

Palace will posses an underdog mentality going into this match, especially since they are riding a high off their last victory. It will be key for Leicester to score first and really limit those set-pieces they’re so prone to allowing goals at. A 3-2 difficult victory at home will return things to normal. It was just a bit too easy against Southampton.