Chelsea continues their march towards the English Premier League title this Saturday, January 14th as they visit King Power Stadium to take on reigning champions Leicester City. Chelsea is coming off of a 4-1 home win over third-tier League One side Peterborough United in the third round of the FA Cup last weekend. Meanwhile Leicester defeated fellow Premier League team Everton 2-1 away in their FA Cup match.
Leicester City vs Chelsea – Pinnacle Soccer Betting Line:
- Pinnacle currently lists Chelsea as the favorites to win the game at -155 with Leicester +499 and a draw at +309
Leicester City vs Chelsea – Head to Head:
- These two teams last met in London in October with Chelsea winning 3-0. They also met on September 20th in the English League Cup with Chelsea winning 4-2 away courtesy of two goals in extra time by Cesc Fabregas. They drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge in league action last season with Leicester winning their home match 2-1. Overall, these two sides have met 108 times with Chelsea winning 53, losing 25 and drawing the other 30. Leicester has won just once in the last 12 meetings along with a draw and 10 defeats.
Leicester City – A Closer Look:
Leicester City’s reign as league champions will last just one season, but will still go down in history as one of soccer’s all-time biggest upsets since the odds of them capturing the crown last year were as wide as 5,000/1. However, they need to make sure they don’t get relegated this year. The team enters the game in 15th place in the 20-team league with just 21 points out of a possible 60. They have five wins, six draws and nine losses with 24 goals scored and 31 allowed.
The champions are just six points ahead of 18th-place Sunderland and the relegation zone while they’re 28 back of Chelsea. Leicester has five wins, three draws and two defeats at home this season with 16 goals for and 10 against. They have two wins, three draws and five defeats in their past 10 league outings with a dozen goals scored and 15 conceded. Manager Claudio Ranieri appears lucky enough to have a healthy squad to choose from with no players named on the club’s injury list.
Chelsea – A Closer Look:
Chelsea’s Premier League record-tying 13-game winning streak came to an end at White Hart Lane in London just over a week ago when Tottenham Hotspur downed them 2-0. The 13 consecutive victories was a franchise record however. Arsenal owns the current league record of 14 straight wins which was spread over two seasons. Chelsea outscored their opponents 32-4 on their streak with 10 clean sheets. Manager Antonio Conte has the squad firing on all cylinders since switching to a 3-4-3 formation. Chelsea remains in the Premier League driver’s seat with 49 points from 16 wins, a draw and three losses with 42 goals scored and 15 allowed.
Chelsea’s lead over second-place Liverpool is five points while they’re seven ahead of Tottenham and Manchester City and eight up on fifth-place Arsenal. The loss to Tottenham was Chelsea’s first in all competitions since fellow London side West Ham United beat them 2-1 away in the English League Cup back on October 26th. Their three league defeats have been to title-chasing clubs Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham. Conte has a relatively healthy squad as the only player on the injury list is left-back Marcus Alonso. However, team captain John Terry is out with a suspension following his red card against Peterborough last week.
Leicester City vs Chelsea – Takeaway:
It looks like Chelsea is going to take over from Leicester as league champions this season, but they’ll have to win on the road to keep their five-point lead over Liverpool this weekend. Leicester needs all the points they can get to keep their heads above the relegation zone.
by Ian S. Palmer