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Attendance: 27,010
Norwich logo
Premier League | Gameweek 28
Feb 28, 2020 at 8pm UK
 
Leicester logo

1-0

Lewis (70')
FT(HT: 0-0)

Preview: Norwich City vs. Leicester City - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole provides team news, predicted lineups and a full preview of Friday's Premier League clash between Norwich City and Leicester City.

Third-placed Leicester City will be looking to get back to winning ways when they head to bottom-of-the-table Norwich City in the Premier League's Friday night fixture.

The Foxes are winless in four matches in all competitions ahead of their trip to Carrow Road, where Norwich have won just once in their last 10 top-flight outings.


Match preview

Jamie Vardy celebrates scoring for Leicester City on December 4, 2019© Reuters

There is no doubt that Leicester have gone off the boil over the past seven weeks, with Brendan Rodgers's men winning just two of their last nine league and cup matches.

That run includes an EFL Cup semi-final defeat to Aston Villa, while in the Premier League they have only beaten West Ham United since New Year's Day.

Despite their disappointing points return, though, the Foxes remain third in the table and are not exactly looking nervously over their shoulder.

Finishing in the top five this season is expected to be enough to earn Champions League qualification and City have a 10-point buffer on Tottenham Hotspur in sixth.

Rodgers does not want the campaign to fizzle out, however, and this trip to Norfolk - quickly followed by an FA Cup last-16 tie with Birmingham City - offers a chance to rebuild some momentum.

Norwich City manager Daniel Farke on January 25, 2020© Reuters

Norwich will have other ideas, of course, but their recent results provide little to suggest an upset could be on the cards on Friday.

The Canaries have earned praise for some positive performances, though that only gets you so far in the Premier League.

Following back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers - the latter a 3-0 whimper - the gap on safety is now seven points.

Top scorer Teemu Pukki is no longer scoring freely and it is perhaps not surprising that Norwich have failed to net in their last three matches.

In fact, their last two goals have come via the penalty spot, with Daniel Farke's side not netting from open play since January 1.

Leicester may also be goalless in their last two league matches, but they had failed to score in just two of their previous 24, netting 54 times in that run.

Norwich City's Premier League form: LWLDLL
Norwich City's form (all competitions): WLWDLL

Leicester City's Premier League form: LLWDDL
Leicester City's form (all competitions): WWLDDL


Team News

Leicester City's Wilfred Ndidi celebrates scoring their fifth goal in September 2019© Reuters

Leicester's disappointing run of form has coincided with the loss of Wilfred Ndidi, but he is back in training and has been given an outside chance of featuring on Friday.

Hamza Choudhury is also back in contention after serving a one-match ban, though fellow midfielders Nampalys Mendy and Daniel Amartey are sidelined through injury.

An injury to Kelechi Iheanacho forced him off early in the 1-0 loss to Manchester City last weekend. Even if the Nigerian is fit, however, Rodgers is expected to go with one striker up front.

Having scored 17 goals in his first 18 Premier League games this season, Jamie Vardy is without a goal in his last seven games in the competition.

The home side are definitely without injured trio Timm Klose, Sam Byram and Onel Hernandez, while Christoph Zimmermann is doubtful.

Ben Godfrey and Grant Hanley should therefore continue their central-defensive partnership, with Jamal Lewis and Max Aarons either side.

Despite being criticised by his manager last week, Emiliano Buendia is in line to return to the side in place of Lukas Rupp following the heavy loss to Wolves.

Norwich City's possible starting lineup:
Krul; Aarons, Godfrey, Hanley, Lewis; Tettey, McLean; Buendia, Duda, Cantwell; Pukki

Leicester City's possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Pereira, Evans, Soyuncu, Chilwell; Choudhury, Perez, Praet, Maddison, Barnes; Vardy


Sports Mole Logo

We say: Norwich City 0-2 Leicester City

If Norwich are to pull off a great escape of sorts then they quite simply need to start winning games. Leicester have also struggled for wins of late but offered some encouraging signs in their defeat to Man City, so we are backing them to come out on top in Friday's clash.



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Written by
Daniel Lewis

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 win with a probability of 58.55%. A draw had a probability of 21% and a win for had a probability of 20.46%.

The most likely scoreline for a win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.86%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (8.67%) and 0-1 (8.43%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.59%), while for a win it was 2-1 (5.46%).


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Norwich City boss Daniel Farke on February 1, 2020
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5Newcastle UnitedNewcastle188553021929
6Bournemouth188552721629
7Manchester CityMan City188463026428
8Fulham187742623328
9Aston Villa188462629-328
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton186842726126
11Brentford187383232024
12Tottenham HotspurSpurs1872939261323
13West Ham UnitedWest Ham186572330-723
14Manchester UnitedMan Utd186482124-322
15Everton173861522-717
16Crystal Palace183871826-817
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18Leicester CityLeicester1835102240-1814
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