Leicester City vs Newcastle United: Champions League challenging Leicester looking for vital win
- Cameron Loftus
- 7 May 2021
The Foxes meet The Magpies on Friday Night Football with the home team eager to keep up their impressive record against their opponents.
When: Friday, May 7, 20:00 GMT
How to watch: Sky Sports
Best bets
Are Newcastle already on their summer holidays?
Judging their last outing against Arsenal alone, yes. The Toon Army lacked any kind of spark and ended up on the wrong side of a 2-0 defeat courtesy of Mohamed Elneny and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang goals.
Before they slumped to this defeat at St. James' Park, however, Steve Bruce's side put together a strong run of form together going four matches unbeaten in the Premier League.
Newcastle's last five matches:
Arsenal (H) - 0-2
Liverpool (A) - 1-1
West Ham (H) - 3-2
Burnley (A) - 1-2
Tottenham (H) - 2-2
Although Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson have returned from injury, the star of that unbeaten run was undoubtedly Arsenal loanee Joe Willock.
Liverpool pegged back by late Joe Willock strike as Newcastle snatch point
Ineligible to play against his parent club last weekend, Willock had scored 3 times in the four-game unbeaten run for The Magpies, earning points against top-seven clubs. His return to the side could give Bruce's men a much-needed boost against Leicester City.
Newcastle are not yet safe from relegation and although they hold a nine-point cushion over the drop zone with four games to play, they will want to wrap up safety sooner rather than later, so there is plenty at stake for Newcastle on Friday night.
Last three Premier League meetings
Newcastle United 1-2 Leicester City (January 3, 2021)
These two met earlier in the season and The Foxes prevailed courtesy of first time finishes from James Maddison and Youri Tielemans, providing them with their fifth win in five visits to Newcastle.
In a balanced match it was the team who took their chances that took home the points. Ten minutes after the restart James Maddison wrong-footed Martin Dubravka to smash Leicester into a lead.
Expert finishing was on show when a Mark Albrighton pass was wonderfully swept goalwards by Tielemans from outside the box to make it 2-0.
Newcastle did rally late and conjured a goal through an Andy Carroll volley, his first goal since re-joining his boyhood club in August 2019.
Leicester held on and moved to within a point of top spot in the league table.
Newcastle United 0-3 Leicester City (January 1, 2020)
The New Years' Day meeting of the clubs brought about another comfortable win for The Foxes.
Newcastle were forced to play the majority of the second half with ten men and never looked like threatening Leicester's firm hold on the match.
Ayoze Perez profited from poor play by his former club and James Maddison's left footed thunderbolt from outside the area helped their team to a two-goal lead at the interval.
The tally was added to at the death when Hamza Choudhury bagged his first senior goal in sublime fashion.
Leicester City 5-0 Newcastle United (September 29, 2019)
Brendan Rodgers' men secured their biggest ever win in the Premier League by thrashing Newcastle at the King Power Stadium.
Ricardo Pereira was the first to notch for the home team and with the game still in the balance Isaac Hayden received a red card before half time to put a dampener on any Newcastle hopes.
The second 45 brought more goals; a Paul Dummett own goal was sandwiched between two Jamie Vardy finishes who made it 14 goals in 17 games under Rodgers and the icing was put on the cake by Wilfried Ndidi to make it 5-0.
Premier League head-to-head
Played: 27
Leicester City wins: 11
Drawn: 5
Newcastle United wins: 11
Leicester City scored: 41
Newcastle United scored: 30
Leicester to keep their impressive recent record up?
Casting an eye over the 10 previous Premier League meetings between these clubs, Leicester have been victorious in eight of those only losing two.
Brendan Rodgers' men evidently enjoy playing in this fixture and have 10 goals in their last three games against Newcastle.
Friday's game represents a chance to move to within one point of Manchester United and eight points above fifth-placed West Ham and so there is plenty of incentive for Leicester City to maintain their strong record versus Newcastle.
Leicester do need to tighten up at the back after recent performances and strikers Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho are required to get back among the goals following a rare off-day in their last match with Southampton.
Scoreline prediction: Leicester City 2-0 Newcastle United
Leicester recent joy against Newcastle cannot be ignored and Brendan Rodgers will have his team primed to avenge their recent slip-up after drawing 1-1 against Southampton.
Newcastle tend to sit deep when playing away from home and although they will be organised, Leicester's creativity in wide areas combined with their finishing power is almost guaranteed to cause The Magpies plenty of issues.
Leicester facing ‘Catch-22’ over James Maddison – Brendan Rodgers
The most reasonable outcome is home victory and with Newcastle unlikely to pack a punch in advanced areas, a Leicester clean sheet seems the way to go.
Goalscorer bets
Jamie Vardy's last eight appearances against Newcastle have been productive; he has five goals and two assists to his name.
The Fox in the opposition box is 10/3 to score first in the match.
Wesley Fofana has impressed all season long and although the centre-back is yet to register a goal this season, he could certainly break that drought this week.
