Chelsea vs Leicester Preview – Likely Line Up And Predictions

Chelsea takes on Championship winners Leicester at Stamford Bridge on Saturday hoping to reinforce the prediction that they will win the league. The Blues earned many plaudits for their display on Monday night against new boys Burnley, coming from behind to dismantle the clarets with goals from Diego Costa, Andre Schurrle and Branislav Ivanovic. They will hope to maintain their place at the top in their first Premier League meeting with Leicester in a decade.

Jose Mourinho has a fully fit squad at his disposal. Courtouis is expected to maintain his place as Chelsea’s number one with Cech’s days at Chelsea looking numbered. Dider Drogba is back to full fitness following his pre-season injury. The line-up is expected to be similar to Burnley however there is one question mark regarding the line-up. Now that Ramires is available for selection following his suspension will Mourinho bring him back in the side? In pre-season Chelsea flirted with a 4-3-3 playing Matic, Fabregas and Ramires so it should be interesting to see if that comes to fruition. Felipe Luis could be in contention to make his debut replacing either Azpilecuta or Ivanovic.

If Chelsea gets in there groove against Leicester it will be intriguing to see how many they score. It could be a comfortable 2-0 or a resounding 5-0. We saw against Burnley they opted to take their foot off the gas in the second half rather than go for an emphatic victory. It will be nice to see Chelsea attempt to thump Leicester rather than seeing out the game when the win is secured, if they indeed do try to bury the opposition it could signal a change in times. Mourinho is wary of the opposition however as he knows the threat newly promoted sides promote. Speaking in his pre-game press on Friday he said the following “If you play at the top of your game, like we did for periods at Burnley, we have a good chance to win. It’s difficult playing newly-promoted teams, they know every point is important.” Another interesting point is if Leicester setup extremely defensive how will Mourinho’s men react. Chelsea’s biggest problem in the League last season was playing teams who put ten men behind the ball. With Fabregas and Costa now in the side they should be able to counter that more efficiently.

Chelsea predicted line-up vs Leicester City: Courtois; Azpilecuta, Terry, Cahill, Felipe Luis; Matic, Fabregas, Ramires, Schurrle, Costa, Hazard

Referee: Lee Mason

Kick Off: 3pm

Last three meetings:  Chelsea 5 Leicester 2, Chelsea 4 Leicester 3 Chelsea 4 Leicester 0

Prediction: Chelsea 3 Leicster 0