Leicester began their campaign horribly, but they’re now looking more like themselves having taken 12 points from their last 5 games in the Premier League. A game against high-flying Newcastle should make for an entertaining match.
You can crack down on all the stats below for goals, shots, corners, fouls, cards and brand new passing in order to pick some winning selections for your bet builders. You can also access my Stats Pack Guide to help you out by clicking here.
Predicted Lineups
Leicester are expected to line-up in their usual 4-1-4-1 formation with Soumare sitting in the lone anchoring midfield position, with Daka leading the line up front.
Centre halves Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu are injury doubts for this one so there could be a defensive partnership of Daniel Amartey and Wout Faes at the back.
Newcastle are flying and I’d expect them to continue with their tried and trusted 4-3-3 with Miguel Almiron and Callum Wilson lining up with either Allan Saint-Maximin or Joelinton.
The Geordies will be thankful to have Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes back from the World Cup. Notable names working their way back through injury are Isak, Krafth, Ritchie and Dummett.
Team stats
Leicester had an incredibly poor start to the season by their standards but things do look to have improved and their form is much better.
Their goals for and conceded are dead level as you can see. That sums them up really, they’ve scored goals but also let in plenty. Leicester have scored more goals than Man United and Chelsea, but they’ve conceded more than Wolves who are rock bottom.
Leicester concede a fair few corners also and Newcastle seem to take plenty. I’m sure they’ve identified that as an area of where they can potentially hurt the foxes.
Newcastle take 6.60 corners P/90 and Leicester concede 6.47 P/90. There could be value in Newcastle corners, and I’d expect the prices to be even more attractive with them being away from home.
A statistic that pops out for me is that Newcastle have an xG against of 1.47 P/90, however they’re conceding just 0.73 times P/90 which is very impressive. The Geordies have conceded just 11 times which gives them the title of the strongest defence in the Premier League alongside Arsenal on the same total.
Player shots and shots on target
Patson Daka leads the way for Leicester when it comes to shot accuracy, he currently boasts 1.55 on target P/90 across his 14 appearances. He’s expected to get the nod over Vardy and Iheanacho.
Harvey Barnes is the next on the list with 2.64 shots P/90 with 1.32. He’s genuinely one of my favourite players to watch in the Premier League, coming inside from the left in that Leicester team. He’s unfortunate that England are so blessed with attackers at the minute.
James Maddison is always good value for shots (3.20 P/90), especially this season where he’s found such good form that earned him a trip to Qatar.
Saint-Maximin tops the accuracy list for Newcastle but it’s not certain that he’ll start at the King Power Stadium. The current predicted line-ups have Joelinton starting on the right side of the front three.
Callum Wilson has the highest shots output at 3.10 P/90, and man of the moment Miguel Almiron isn’t too far away with 2.66. He missed a sitter against Bournemouth last time out and will be hoping it was a bit of rustiness.
Player goals and assists
James Maddison and Harvey Barnes are the players making things happen for Leicester and the pair of them can always keep their head high. Their performances never dropped even during the tough times for them and Brendan Rodgers at the start of the season.
Maddison was banging in goals and making us fall in love with him during media interviews. And Harvey Barnes was scoring goals as his underrated self always has done. Maddison has 11 goals contributions across 13 appearances, and Barnes has scored 6 times in 13.
Miguel Almiron has come to life ever since Steve Bruce left St James’ Park and Jack Grealish criticised him at the end of last season. It’s 8 goals and an assist for Almiron in 15 appearances.
Callum Wilson has bagged 6 goals and two assists in 11 which ultimately helped him pip Ivan Toney to a place in the England squad. Bruno Guimaraes has been a great bit of business, and he’s contribution a few goals and assists already.
Leicester cards
Soumare and Maddison are the standouts for Leicester cards on paper I’d say.
Maddison is the most booked player with 5 yellows in 13, and he’s committing 1.23 fouls P/90. He’s one of those that has a frustrated lunge in him. Soumare and Ndidi both look great also, whichever gets the nod in the holding midfield role would be a good shout.
Bruno Guimaraes stats stand out here. In his first 12 appearances for Newcastle, he’s drawing 3 fouls P/90 and attempting 2.64 dribbles. I’d be interested to see how he fares against the likes of Soumare or Ndidi, likely to be the former.
Allan Saint-Maximin, as we know, is very tricky/unconventional and great at drawing fouls out of full backs. It’s just whether he starts or not, we’ll have to see. The pace of Callum Wilson vs the Leicester centre halves will be interesting.
Match-ups to watch:
Boubakary Soumare vs Bruno Guimaraes
James Maddison vs Joe Willock
Daniel Amartey vs Callum Wilson
Newcastle cards
Joelinton is another player with 5 cards to his name already. He’s such a physical player with his strength and he’s averaging nearly 2 fouls P/90. He’ll have Maddison on his side (Who draws 2.38 fouls P/90), so I can see that one heating up.
Trippier and Schar are capable of being caught out, and I think they’ll be good options for a booking against the quality of player such as Harvey Barnes and Patson Daka.
Match-Ups to watch:
Kieran Trippier vs Harvey Barnes
Joelinton vs James Maddison
Fabian Schar vs Patson Daka
Player passing
Jonny Evans and Wout Fes are the only Leicester players averaging 70+ passes P/90 and of course they’re the centre halves, it’s the repeating theme. Daniel Amartey also makes the list but he has a slightly lower average at 63.3.
The Foxes have 50% possession each game on average, and I do fancy the game against Newcastle to be even in that sense. There isn’t much between them, bar the starts to the season that both clubs experienced.
Kieran Tripper is averaging 70+ passes which on paper, seems to be a huge number for someone on the right side of defence. It’s 20 more than both centre halves Schar and Botman who both average around the 50 mark, I found that interesting but surprising.
