KB Sport: Leicester City will welcome Legia Warsaw to the King's Court for the fifth round of the Europa League group stage. As things stand, both teams face a very real danger of ending their participation in the tournament at the beginning of next month.
Leicester City While Group C certainly wasn't easy to navigate, the Foxes would be disappointed to sit at the bottom of the table at this point. On the other hand, their name has five points, and a strong result in the first part of the season can still be seen qualifying for the round of 32. After all, Sparta Moscow and Napoli, the two teams that currently occupy the top two, each have only seven points. Things are not going well in the Premier League either. Leicester City nearly missed the Champions League qualifier last season and is currently in 12th place, scoring 15 points in 12 games, the same as Everton at 11th place and one point less than Crystal Palace in 10th place. There has even been speculation that head coach Brendan Rodgers is under pressure to make improvements quickly or risk losing his job, although at this point it seems premature.
Still, the inevitable truth is that the Foxes have won just one of their last six games in all games and haven't won a single one since the 2-1 away win over Brentford a month ago. They beat Brighton and Hove Albion in a penalty shootout in the Carabao Cup after a 2-2 home draw with Arsenal, who drew 1-1 at home to Sparta Moscow and away to Leeds United, who were beaten 3-0 at home by Chelsea a few days ago. Team News Youri Tielemans has been ruled out for a calf injury until mid-December, which was a huge blow to Leicester City's midfield line-up. Centre-back Wesley Fofana and defender James Justin will also be absent for some time, as will defender Ricardo Pereira, who has developed thigh problems in training.
With his team desperately needed to win, Rodgers could deploy James Maddison to support Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka for a partnership, although Ayoze Perez and Kelechi Iheanacho also want to start. One thing that would give Leicester city ahead of this conflict was that Legia Warsaw was no better off lately than they were. Poland's semi-finals in all competitions include a 4-1 away loss to Piast Gliwice, a 1-0 away win over Swin Skowyn in the Polish Cup, a 2-0 home loss to Pogen Szczecin, a 1-4 home defeat to Napoli, a 1-3 home loss to Starr, and a 3-2 away loss to Gornik Zabze.
However, legia in this clash of points higher than the Foxes, if they have any intention of moving on to the next stage, then victory is also essential for them. At the same time, it seems, in Ekstraklasa, Poland, the situation is almost unlikely to get worse. Legia is second-to-last, with no more than nine points in 13 games in the relegation zone. The team's woes this fall led head coach Czeslaw Michniewicz to be replaced last month by his assistant Marek Golebiewski. So far, it doesn't look like any good. Team news midfielder Bartosz Kapustka has been playing for Leicester City between 2016 and the summer of 2020 but has only made three appearances in the first team and he will not be able to face his former club due to an ACL injury. He is not expected to return to the pitch before March next year. Experienced goalkeeper Artur Boruc is experienced while playing in England but has yet to recover from back problems, meaning Cezary Miszta will once again take his place between the post. Midfielder Josou was suspended for the game. Conclusion Although Legia won the match in Poland in September, Leicester City is not in good shape, but the Foxes should really be able to win this game. Poor form seriously masks the strength of the Premier League team. The odds of winning at home are very low – 1 in 6, so you may need to consider another option. Both teams need a win and we're likely to see a fairly open game with a lot of chances and hopefully scoring goals.