Leicester-Liverpool is a match valid for the 36th day of the Premier League and is played on Monday at 9 pm: TV, lineups, predictions.
Until a couple of seasons ago they were fighting up and down for the same goals. Today Leicester goes desperate for salvation points, while Liverpool will try to add even more momentum to its chase for fourth place. Needless to reiterate how high the stakes are in this postmatch that brings the curtain down on the 36th day of the Premier League.
Truly dramatic is the situation in which the Foxes find themselves, who a few weeks ago relied on a pragmatic coach more accustomed than his predecessor Rodgers to juggling such circumstances as Dean Smith. The former Aston Villa and Norwich coach since taking over the team’s reins has brought home five points (win with Wolverhampton and double draw with Leeds and Everton), but the crushing defeat (5-3) handed to Fulham on Monday has once again plunged Leicester into second-last position. Vardy and his teammates now have 30 points, two to make up on the fourth-last, Everton, which had to surrender yesterday to top-ranked Manchester City, and one less than Leeds, which emerged unscathed on Saturday from its challenge with Newcastle. Salvation, in short, is still possible on paper, but in the next three games the Foxes will face two “big teams” that are fighting for Champions League qualification such as Liverpool and Newcastle. A wall to climb, in short.
Only one result available for Klopp
As for the Reds, Jurgen Klopp’s is one of the healthiest lineups in the league and is coming off six consecutive wins.
Terry and Smith, together at Leicester
To retake fourth place in extremis, however, they need to keep winning: Manchester United and Newcastle have four more points and a game to make up. The Reds have no other choice: they cannot commit any missteps if they want to straighten out a season that has been clearly below their standards. Indeed, Liverpool has only now found an enviable continuity of results but it may be too late. There is also the need to defend fifth place now that Brighton have also come under the gun – yesterday De Zerbi’s team overwhelmed Arsenal 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium – and have two games left.
The Prediction
Liverpool is going through an amazing state of form but will have to deal with a Leicester with water at its throat and almost obliged to win to avoid relegation. One cannot help but give confidence to the Reds after what they have shown in recent matches but we believe that the Foxes, who score and concede goals at home with enormous frequency, will also manage to score at least one goal in a match that promises spectacle.
The likely lineups for Leicester-Liverpool
- LEICESTER (4-2-3-1): Iversen; Pereira, Faes, Soyuncu, Castagne; Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall; Tete, Maddison, Barnes; Vardy.
- LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konaté, van Dijk, Robertson; Jones, Fabinho, Henderson; Salah, Gakpo, Luis Diaz.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-3
