Sunday FA Cup Quarter Final – Leicester City vs Chelsea
March 18th 2018 16:30 – King Power Stadium
Recent Form (All competitions)
Leicester City: LWDDW
Chelsea: WDLLW
Leicester City welcome reigning Premier League champions Chelsea to the King Power Stadium on Sunday, with a place in the FA Cup semi-finals the prize for the victors.
The Foxes, who have never won the competition, prepared for this game with a warm-weather break in Spain. Manager Claude Puel believes the change of scenery is the perfect preparation as he looks to devise a plan to topple Chelsea. With Premier League status all but assured this is the perfect opportunity for the East Midlanders to go all out to make the last four. Historically this is a tough game for Puel’s men as they have only won once in the last 15 encounters between the two dating back to the 2001-02 season. But with Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool no longer in the competition there is a real chance of cup glory.
For Antonio Conte’s Chelsea, this is their last chance to salvage something from a season that has flattered to deceive. Struggling to make the top four, out of the Champions League, the under-fire Italian coach could do with an elongated cup run and a trophy to save this season. Despite the rewards for winning this game, the Londoners could also have one eye on the up-coming Premier League tie with Tottenham, which will have a big say in who reaches the promised land of the Champions League. So it will be interesting to see the team selection to find out where the priorities lay for Conte. Do the seven-time winners look to add an eighth pot to their haul or will it be all guns blazing for a top-four finish?
Both sides spent the majority of the week in Spain for totally contrasting reasons. As Leicester trained and enjoyed the warm weather, Chelsea played and lost to Barcelona in the Champions League. The contrasts continue when you look at the depth of squads and consider the historical results between the two teams which all favour Chelsea. But the balance also swings the other way when you consider that Chelsea look to be on the slide while Leicester look full of confidence. With Riyad Mahrez back in the good books and grabbing a goal and an assist in his last game, things bode well for the Foxes.
Goal-shy Chelsea have the worst scoring record of the Premier League’s top six. In fact, Jamie Vardy has three more goals than Chelsea duo Alvaro Morata and Oliver Giroud combined in the league this season.
Prediction: Leicester will be ready to pounce and pour more misery on a wounded Chelsea side. Just don’t expect too many goals.
You can back Leicester City/Under2.5 Goals at 6/1 with Betfair.