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

Aiming to record back-to-back victories for the first time since August, Leicester City host fellow promotion hopefuls Stoke City at the King Power Stadium in the Championship on Saturday afternoon.

The Foxes picked up a much-needed success in East Anglia prior to the international break, whereas the Potters' impressive home run ended at the hands of the league leaders.

Match preview

Starting at their return from the October international hiatus, Leicester City endured a damaging five-game winless run (D2 L3) in the Championship which hurt their chances of competing at the top of the division, but the East Midlanders ended the recent six-match block on a high at Carrow Road.

In fact, the Foxes put the final nail in Liam Manning's managerial coffin at Carrow Road, where second-half goals from Bobby Reid and Wales star Jordan James secured a last-gasp victory at Norwich, who are now under the reign of former Rangers boss Philippe Clement.

Winning just one of their last six second-tier battles, Marti Cifuentes's side are currently occupying an uninspiring 12th position in the Championship standings, with Leicester last finishing below the top six of this division over a decade ago, during the 2011-12 campaign (ninth).

An Achilles' heel for one of the pre-season promotion favourites, the Foxes have won just two of their opening seven league matches at the King Power Stadium this season, with their most recent triumph on home soil coming against Birmingham City on August 29.

After a challenging year in Ligue 1 at crisis-hit Rennes, midfielder James is back in the Championship on loan for the 2025-26 term and sits join-top of Leicester's goalscoring charts alongside Abdul Fatawu, with the Welshman also finding the net for his nation in a World Cup qualifier against Liechtenstein over the international break.

Following a three-game winning run in the Championship for Stoke, it was a meeting of first versus second last time out as Coventry visited the Potters at the bet365 Stadium, where an outstanding acrobatic effort from Mason Ephron-Clark snatched maximum points for Frank Lampard's men.

With Mark Robins's side suffering their fourth loss of term and managerless Middlesbrough conquering Birmingham on the same day, the Potters dropped down to third spot in the second-tier table heading into the November pause, now seven points behind the league leaders.

Despite their defeat to the Sky Blues last time out, Stoke should be confident of collecting a positive result on their travels this weekend, with the Staffordshire side earning 14 points from eight away league matches to date - only Coventry (17) have managed more.

The Potters possess the meanest away defence in the division after conceding just five goals across eight contests to date, with Swedish shot-stopping sensation Viktor Johansson keeping three clean sheets in his last five matches away from the bet365 Stadium.

Stoke will be looking to end a four-game losing run in meeting between the two sides this weekend, with the Potters winless across their last 10 competitive matches against Leicester (D3 L7), who last tasted defeat in this matchup all the way back in January 2015.

Leicester City Championship form: D L L L D W

Stoke City Championship form: W L W W W L

Team News

Leicester continue to battle on without the services of first-choice goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk, who picked up a groin injury at the beginning of the month.

Jannik Vestergaard will need to recover quickly from a damaging night for Denmark at Hampden Park earlier in the week to perform at his best for the Foxes on Saturday.

A fellow Dane within the ranks of the one-time Premier League champions, Victor Kristiansen is currently sidelined due to a knee injury.

Last playing for Stoke in a friendly clash with Burnley on August 2, Sam Gallagher is yet to feature competitively this term because of a muscular problem.

An influential force in the midfield for the Potters so far this term, four-goal star Lewis Baker (knock) is a doubt for the trip to the King Power.

Still in with a chance of featuring at next summer's World Cup courtesy of Troy Parrott's recent Republic of Ireland antics, Bosun Lawal (hamstring) is out of action at the moment.

Leicester City possible starting lineup:

Begovic; Okoli, Vestergaard, Thomas, Pereira; Winks, Skipp; Fatawu, James, Ayew; Daka

Stoke City possible starting lineup:

Johansson; Tchamadeu, Phillips, Wilmot, Cresswell; Pearson, Rigo, Manhoef, Bae, Thomas; Mubama

We say: Leicester City 1-1 Stoke City

Victorious in just two of their seven Championship matches at the King Power so far, Leicester need to improve their home form if they wish to seriously compete for a top-six placement.

Stoke have proven a tough nut to crack on the road, and we are expecting the Potters to take advantage of any Foxes frailties this weekend.

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