It‘s already Week 24 of the Premier League – and yes, Leicester City are leading with 47 points. They had given up their top position to Arsenal for a few weeks, but with the latter still seemingly unable to beat Chelsea even when they‘re down, the Foxes had a chance to strengthen their advances. However, their contenders are all set for relatively easy games this week and Leicester will have to try and make it through Liverpool.
Now the Reds‘ season wasn‘t anywhere near as brilliant as that of Leicester, but they still manage to show growth and resilience, especially since they are often missing more than a few key players to injuries yet come out with draws against tough teams like Arsenal. However, the UK-licensed bookie TonyBet predicts yet another victory for the Foxes: they‘re the favourites with the odds of 29/20 against Liverpool‘s 19/10.
However, the teams have already met in the Barclay’s Premier League this season on the Boxing Day, where Liverpool beat Leicester 1:0. There is a chance that the Foxes will very well outrun their contenders though, considering how healthy their squad is – and how seven injuries is actually a rather modest number for the Reds. Plus, the latter have got their FA Cup Finals coming up, which can present a number of surprises.
Leicester on the other hand have a very easy schedule in the sense that they are literally only competing in the Premier League, so all of their players get plenty of rest and even though they do rely heavily on Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to score, they can allow themselves to do that since they are fit and capable.
Even though Klopp manages to push Liverpool through seemingly impossible situations sometimes, if you take a look at their past five games in the PL, you will find that they only have two wins, as many losses, and a draw – granted, the latter is a 3:3 against Arsenal. The trouble with their gameplay is their incredible inconsistency, which probably goes back to all the player juggling they‘re forced to do what with them being injured all the time.
Still, Leicester ironically isn‘t playing at their best currently, considering that out of their five last PL games they drew three and won two when they‘ve managed to do much better before. Perhaps this is the effect of the tough fixture run that all the critics were so keen about – but then the Foxes only lost two games out of the 23 they‘ve played, and only lost against Arsenal and Liverpool.
To be quite fair, this match is harder to predict than it may look. Leicester City has been consistently brilliant for the entirety of the season, and Liverpool has been rather entertaining – you can‘t really know when will they deliver most excellent football and when will they completely lose their game. The League is getting more and more cutthroat and the stakes are getting higher, so tune in and support your favourites.
Liverpool are in the Capital One cup finals, not the FA cup. I see a Liverpool win, though.