What to watch without Leicester City

Apparently they’re now allowed to go whole weeks without Leicester City playing at all, which doesn’t seem ok but here we are. The women’s and development teams are off as well, which is going to make picking out key matchups to watch for a little tougher.

Instead I’m offering up some alternative football to get you through this difficult time for us all.

Friday - Bristol City vs Birmingham City, 19:45 GMT

Sky Sports, ESPN+, international coverage

An early look at the Foxes’ next FA Cup opponent. The 5th round draw set us up for a possible mouthwatering chance to demolish Coventry City, but alas they lost the replay to Birmingham City, and so we’ll have to make do.

The Blues are currently 17th in the Championship. That sounds good for our chances of progressing, but also means you probably haven’t watched them this year and no one could blame you.

Get an early step up in your twitter arguments by checking out their strengths and weaknesses against a Bristol City team, who are also much stronger than their opponents.

The Robins are also the new temporary home of Foxes CB Filip Benkovic. None of us have seen him as much as we’d like to have this year, so it’s a nice chance to see how he’s getting on.

Saturday - Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United, 17:30 GMT

Sky Sports, ESPN+, international coverage

This one is a much more straightforward explanation. While the Premier League games on Saturday are a bit lacklustre, the Championship doesn’t disappoint with a cracking 2nd vs 4th encounter.

Both teams are very much still in the chase for automatic promotion; they should be fun to watch, and also could be our opponents next year. Even if they fail to get up (again) they might have players worth taking a look at for the summer.

While it’s never easy to root for Leeds, pitting them against Forest also gives Leicester fans an easy choice of who to support.

Pro tip: if you tweet about this one, please call them Notts Forest because it really gets to them.

Sunday - Manchester City vs West Ham United, 16:30 GMT

Sky Sports, NBCSN, international coverage

The epitome of a win-win for the nearly-neutral Leicester City fan. We all know how fun Man City’s style of play can be to watch, and the league’s top scoring team usually provide entertainment of some kind.

These two teams met on the opening weekend, and City tore the Hammers apart 5-0 away from home. While I have nothing in particularly against the Londoners, there is a certain joy to watching great players in their stride against terrified opposition.

Every other outcome is even better for Leicester City. Amazing as it seems, the Foxes are just 2 points behind City, so any resistance the Hammers can provide is useful. If they can take even a point, we could draw level with a win over Wolves.

On a personal note, I just really enjoy watching Michail Antonio play. More of that please, mr. Moyes.