On the back of an EFL Cup exit at the hands of Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur will look to bounce back upon their return to Premier League action on Wednesday, as they travel to the King Power Stadium to take on Leicester City.
With Antonio Conte still yet to suffer a league defeat as Spurs manager, the London club can climb back into the top five of the English top-flight table with a victory, while their hosts sit 10th, having not played a league game since the turn of the year.
Match preview
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Leicester City come into Wednesday's game having only played once in the new year - a 4-1 home victory over Watford in the FA Cup third round thanks to goals from Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Marc Albrighton.
With consecutive Premier League games against Everton and Burnley postponed due to COVID-19 cases, you have to go back to late December for the Foxes' last top-flight outing, and it was a memorable one as Brendan Rogers's side defeated his former club Liverpool 1-0 with Ademola Lookman hitting the decisive goal on the hour mark.
Before that, the Midlands side came close to a spirited comeback against runaway leaders Manchester City, coming from 4-0 down to within a goal through Maddison, Lookman and Kelechi Iheanacho, only for the champions to take it back out of their hands and come out 6-3 winners.
Owing to a somewhat mixed first half of the season, Rogers's men sit 10th in the top flight on 25 points from 18 outings, with no team outside of the bottom six conceding more than the 33 goals that they have shipped in league play.
However, with at least two games in hand on every side above themselves other than Wednesday's opponents, their standing could quickly change with an upturn in form, and the Northern Irish manager will be keen to see his side return to action in style.
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Tottenham arrive in the Midlands looking to break into the top five after returning to winning ways in their most recent league game, defeating Watford 1-0 on New Year's Day thanks to Davinson Sanchez's 96th-minute header.
Since that victory, Antonio Conte's men suffered a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the EFL Cup semi-final over two legs, either side of a 3-1 FA Cup win at home to third-tier strugglers Morecambe.
While the Lilywhites did successfully book their place in the next round, they were required to call on their key men as Harry Winks, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane got on the scoresheet in the final 15 minutes after the visitors took a first-half lead.
Now turning their attention back to league action, Conte's men will aim for consecutive victories for just the second time since his appointment in November, although they do remain unbeaten in the top flight under the Italian.
With rivals Arsenal sitting just two points ahead, having played two more matches, Tottenham will be keen to take three points back to London and climb into the top five.
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Team News
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Leicester have an unenviable list of absentees to battle through, with Wilfred Ndidi, Daniel Amartey, Nampalys Mendy and Kelechi Iheanacho all away at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Wesley Fofana, Jonny Evans, Ricardo Pereira, Ryan Bertrand and Jamie Vardy will certainly miss out due to injuries.
Elsewhere, full-back Timothy Castagne and midfielder Boubakary Soumare are doubts but may be called upon if required by Rogers.
In the absence of Iheanacho and Vardy, Patson Daka will lead the line with the support of Ademola Lookman, who has enjoyed an impressive run of form in the attacking third, while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will be trusted to play an important role in midfield alongside Youri Tielemans and James Maddison.
Similarly to their hosts, Tottenham are certainly coming into battle with a depleted squad, with star forward Son Heung-min ruled out through injury.
Centre-backs Eric Dier and Cristian Romero and left-back Sergio Reguilon will require further assessments alongside Steven Bergwijn, with the quartet all battling through various stages of injuries.
Harry Kane will lead the line with help from Lucas Moura, who has enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence under Conte.
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Albrighton, Soyuncu, Vestergaard, Thomas; Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall; Lookman, Maddison, Barnes; Daka
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Lloris; Tanganga, Sanchez, Davies; Royal, Winks, Hojbjerg, Sessegnon; Alli, Kane, Moura
We say: Leicester City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
While both sides are battling with squads far from full strength, Conte's team arguably have more of their stars available, and they should have enough to get over the line on Wednesday.
With the Foxes potentially rusty from a lack of action and the visitors battling to leapfrog Arsenal, we predict a narrow away win.
Top tip
Sam Varley
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 38.53%. A win for Tottenham Hotspur had a probability of 36.17% and a draw had a probability of 25.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Leicester City win was 1-0 with a probability of 8.69%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.49%) and 2-0 (6.19%). The likeliest Tottenham Hotspur win was 0-1 (8.38%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.92%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 2.7% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted that Tottenham Hotspur would win this match.
