Manchester City and Leicester City go head-to-head in arguably the most exciting Boxing Day match-up at the Etihad Stadium.
Coming into this matchday, the Cityzens have regained control at the Premier League summit following a run of eight consecutive league victories.
Pep Guardiola’s side followed up a 7-0 thrashing of Leeds United in their last top-flight home fixture with an overwhelming 4-0 victory over Newcastle United last time out.
Man City will go into the highly-anticipated Boxing Day in high spirits amid talks of Ferran Torres’ impending move to Barcelona and legal chaos involving Benjamin Mendy.
Guardiola has already wished the Spaniard good luck ahead of the latter’s return to his homeland, while the French left-back faces Christmas behind bars.
After being charged with seven counts of rape (via Daily Mail), Mendy could be facing a lengthy jail time if he is found guilty.
As for Leicester, a penalty shoot-out defeat to Liverpool in midweek Carabao Cup action could’ve left devastating psychological consequences on Brendan Rodgers’ men.
Despite being 3-1 up 25 minutes before the final whistle, the Foxes failed to capitalise on the lead as the understrength Reds came from behind to qualify for the competition’s semi-finals.
On the bright side, Leicester eased past Newcastle 4-0 in their last Premier League fixture to halt a streak of back-to-back league matches without a win (D1, L1).
Amid rising positive COVID-19 cases in England’s top-flight, Rodgers can at least take some confidence from having almost his entire squad fit and firing.
Manchester City vs Leicester City Head-To-Head
Bernardo Silva’s 62nd-minute winner decided an evenly-contested reverse fixture at the King Power Stadium, making it two top-flight H2H wins in a row for Man City.
Both those victories have come ‘to nil’ and on foreign soil as the Cityzens look to settle the score following a horrendous 5-2 defeat in this exact fixture last season.
The recent H2H stakes are firmly on Man City’s side. Guardiola’s men have racked up eight triumphs from their last ten Premier League meetings with Leicester (L2).
Manchester City Preview
Man City haven’t lost any of their last eight home games on Boxing Day (W6, D2) since falling to a 1-0 defeat to Port Vale in 1996/97, winning each of the last six in a row.
Based on their recent home performances, the Cityzens are likely to stay on the upwards trajectory.
Guardiola’s men have won eight competitive home outings ahead of this fixture, netting 19 goals while conceding just three in return in that period.
Man City’s imperious home form gives Riyad Mahrez hope that he could avoid ending up on the losing side on Boxing Day for the first time in his career.
The Algerian winger has lost all of his five appearances on Boxing Day en route to setting an unwanted Premier League record, including a 2-1 defeat to his former side Leicester in 2018.
Leicester City Preview
Unlike last season, when they were nothing short of impressive away from home, Leicester have been struggling with inconsistent performances on the road this term.
Rodgers’ men have suffered three defeats in their eight Premier League travels in 2021/22 so far, already as many away reverses as they had throughout the whole of 2020/21.
Unfortunately, the Foxes have encountered no luck in their recent Boxing Day fixtures, having won just one of their last 11 such contests (D2, L8).
Despite his well-documented scoring prowess, Leicester talisman Jamie Vardy has failed to find the net in any of his six Premier League appearances on Boxing Day.
Against this backdrop, the experienced striker has tallied a whopping eight Premier League goals against Man City, including two hat-tricks.
Manchester City vs Leicester City Predicted Line-ups
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson; Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne; Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus.
Leicester City (4-3-3): Kasper Schmeichel; Timothy Castagne, Jannik Vestergaard, Wilfred Ndidi, Luke Thomas; Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Youri Tielemans, Boubacary Soumare; James Maddison, Jamie Vardy, Harvey Barnes.
