Leicester City and Braga are both out to maintain their perfect starts in Europa League Group G when they face off at the King Power Stadium on Thursday.
The two sides are six points better off than Zorya Luhansk and AEK Athens, but something has to give in this clash in the East Midlands.
Match preview
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Leicester kicked off their latest European adventure with a 3-0 win at home to Zorya Luhansk and followed that up with an equally impressive 2-1 win in Athens.
Brendan Rodgers's side have certainly found their stride in recent weeks, having won four games on the spin in all competitions.
Youri Tielemans struck twice in Monday's 4-1 win over Leeds United as the Foxes climbed into second place in the Premier League, within a point of leaders Liverpool.
Balancing European commitments with a packed domestic fixture list is going to be difficult, but Leicester seem to be using the quick turnaround in games to their advantage.
Advancing from Group G in the soonest time possible is the target for Rodgers, and his side can take a massive stride towards the last 32 with another victory on Thursday.
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City have won five of their last six home matches in European competition, drawing the other and keeping a clean sheet in four of those victories.
Braga enter this match on a six-game winning run in all competitions, though, most recently grinding out a 1-0 win over Famalicao through Bruno Viana's late goal.
That win moved Braga up to third in the Primeira Liga, four points off Sporting Lisbon after six rounds of fixtures.
The Portuguese outfit are regulars in the Europa League and reached the final in 2011, though they have not advanced past the first knockout stage in the last four attempts.
Carlos Carvalhal is tasked with that and, on the basis of their first two games, Braga will fancy their chances of a run deep into the competition this time around.
Leicester City Europa League form: WW
Leicester City form (all competitions): LLWWWW
Braga Europa League form: WW
Braga form (all competitions): WWWWWW
Team News
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Jamie Vardy has started Leicester's last two matches but is surely in need of a breather as he works his way back to full fitness, so Kelechi Iheanacho may be called upon here.
Mass changes are not expected in what is a pivotal game in the group, though the likes of James Maddison, Cengiz Under and Wes Morgan will be hopeful of earning a recall.
Rodgers has fielded three at the back in recent matches but may be tempted to go with a flat back four against Braga, who tend to operate in a 4-4-2 system.
Ricardo Horta and Paulinho are Carvalhal's go-to men up top, with the latter scoring six goals in the Europa League from just eight shots on target since the start of 2019-20.
Elsewhere, Nicolas Gaitan is likely to get the nod in midfield alongside the more defensive-minded Fransergio.
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Justin, Fofana, Morgan, Fuchs; Choudhury, Mendy; Under, Perez, Albrighton; Iheanacho
Braga possible starting lineup:
Matheus; Esgaio, Viana, Silva, Carmo; Moura, Castro, Fransergio, Gaitan; Horta, Paulinho
We say: Leicester City 2-2 Braga
Leicester, who beat Porto 1-0 four years ago in their only previous home match against Portuguese opposition, enter this match as the favourites.
The Foxes have been in fine form of late and look to be taking the Europa League very seriously, with a famous European run the aim for Rodgers.
Braga have themselves looked very good in recent weeks, though, winning six matches on the spin in all competitions, and we can see the points being shared in this one.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or an away win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home/Away:data
Daniel Lewis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Leicester City win with a probability of 41.23%. A win for Braga had a probability of 38.46% and a draw had a probability of 20.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Leicester City win was 2-1 with a probability of 7.19%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-2 (5.13%) and 3-1 (5.05%). The likeliest Braga win was 1-2 (6.94%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 2-2 (7.31%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 1.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Leicester City would win this match.
