Preview: Coventry City vs Leicester City - prediction, team news, lineups

In the latest edition of the M69 derby, Coventry City welcome Leicester City to The Coventry Building Society Arena in the Championship on Saturday afternoon.

The Sky Blues are going through their toughest patch of a campaign which appeared destined for Premier League promotion, whilst the Foxes are looking to build some positive momentum.

Match preview

Since the 1-0 home success over Swansea City on Boxing Day, Coventry City have endured a four-game winless streak (D1 L3) across all competitions, damaging their promotion hopes and ending their FA Cup dreams.

An all-Championship tie at a venue where they had already won this season - Stoke City's bet365 Stadium - seemed to be a good draw for the Sky Blues, however the East Midlanders were knocked out of the FA Cup last weekend by a solitary Lamine Cisse strike.

On a mission to avoid three consecutive competitive defeats for the first time since September 2024 under the tutelage of Mark Robins, Coventry remain at the top of the Championship rankings, eight points ahead of third-placed Ipswich Town.

After a run of three straight away matches, Frank Lampard's troops are back at the CBS Arena, where they saw an 11-game match undefeated home streak come to an end last time out, when Ipswich became the first side to win at the Midlands venue this term.

Tasting victory in just one of their past six contests, Coventry will be hoping January arrivals Romain Esse and Yang Min-Hyeok can provide a bit of magic in attack to recharge the team's promotion ambitions.

With the metaphorical managerial axe looming overhead, Leicester boss Marti Cifuentes has arguably saved his employment with back-to-back wins against West Bromwich Albion and Cheltenham during the past fortnight.

A much-changed Foxes side were too strong for the challenge of the League Two Robins in the FA Cup last Saturday afternoon, when goals from the lesser-spotted Patson Daka and Stephy Mavididi secured a routine third-round success.

Leicester are now searching for three straight triumphs for the first time since Enzo Maresca's Foxes achieved that feat in April 2024, highlighting the struggles the club have ploughed through in recent times.

For all of their on-field worries and off-field stresses, two wins from their last three league contests have left Leicester within striking distance of the Championship playoffs, sitting four points behind Watford in sixth spot.

Before the comfortable win at Cheltenham last time out, the Foxes collected just a single point across their last three second-tier away matches, conceding a combined nine goals at Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield United.

Coventry City Championship form: W D W L D L

Coventry City form (all competitions): D W L D L L

Leicester City Championship form: W L L W L W

Leicester City form (all competitions): L L W L W W

Team News

After a late red card during the defeat at Birmingham City on January 4, Coventry's Bobby Thomas remains suspended for the visit of Leicester this weekend.

Still sitting top of the Sky Blues' goalscoring charts despite last featuring in November, Brandon Thomas-Asante is sidelined because of a hamstring problem.

The hosts have a pair of stars expected to return in February, with Kaine Kesler-Hayden (ankle) and Oliver Dovin (knee) occupying spots in the medical room.

Leicester are set to be without the services of Burnley loanee Aaron Ramsey, who suffered his latest setback in the form of a hamstring injury over the festive period.

Playing just 16 times for the Foxes since his January 2023 arrival from Stoke, Harry Souttar is currently out because of an Achilles issue.

Coventry City possible starting lineup:

Rushworth; Van Ewijk, Latibeaudiere, Kitching, Dasilva; Grimes, Rudoni, Sakamoto, Eccles, Mason-Clark; Simms

Leicester City possible starting lineup:

Stolarczyk; Pereira, Okoli, Nelson, Choudhury; James, Skipp, Fatawu, Reid, Mavididi; Ayew

We say: Coventry City 2-1 Leicester City

Despite being in the midst of a troublesome spell, Coventry should be good enough to beat Leicester on Saturday afternoon.

The Foxes were wholly unconvincing in victory versus West Brom last time out in the league, and a similar performance will surely lead to defeat at the home of the Sky Blues.

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