Match Preview
Leicester City vs Fulham
Premier League Match Day 010 at King Power Stadium
Monday 30th November 2020 KO: 17:30
Referee:
Simon Hooper (Wiltshire)
Live on Sky
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Fulham play Leicester City on Monday evening the King Power Stadium having lost seven of their opening nine matches in the top flight.
Meanwhile Leicester are looking to bounce back from their poor performance at Premier League champions Liverpool.
The Cottagers have improved as the season has progressed, but successive defeats to West Ham United and Everton have left Scott Parker's side one point adrift of safety.
While missed penalties continue to dominate the headlines, Parker will be more concerned about his defence after they conceded three times in the opening 45 minutes against the Toffees.
Heading into an away double-header with Leicester and Manchester City, Fulham possess the joint-worst defensive record in the division with 18 goals being shipped in nine outings.
Although Parker may feel that Fulham have little to lose in their next two games, he will be keen to avoid a heavy defeat, aware that more speculation regarding his long-term future at Craven Cottage would inevitably follow.
A combination of Leicester's form before the international break and Liverpool's mounting injury concerns meant that many predicted Brendan Rodgers's side to cause a surprise at Anfield last weekend.
However, while the visitors had their moments on Merseyside, they were fortunate to only lose out by a 3-0 scoreline, highlighting that they have some way to go to be considered as genuine title contenders.
Succumbing to opponents possessing a home record such as Liverpool's is no disgrace, but Leicester under-performed at a time when they could have moved four points clear of last season's champions.
The Foxes were also far from their best when recording a 3-3 draw with Braga in the Europa League, having to rely to a last-gasp equaliser from Jamie Vardy to earn a share of the spoils in Portugal.
Nevertheless, fighting back on three separate occasions in that match would have impressed Rodgers, and it should have restored some confidence ahead of welcoming Fulham to the East Midlands.
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Leicester won their last Premier League meeting with Fulham (3-1 in March 2019), their first victory in six attempts against them in the competition (D3 L2).
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Fulham have kept a clean sheet in 67 per cent of their Premier League meetings with Leicester (4/6) - only against Derby do they have a better such record in the competition (75 per cent - 3/4). However, they conceded in both meetings with Leicester the last time they met in 2018-19 (D1 L1).
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Jamie Vardy was involved in all three of Leicester's goals the last time they faced Fulham in the Premier League, scoring two and assisting one in the Foxes 3-1 win in March 2019.
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Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has won all seven of his Premier League meetings against Fulham - only Pep Guardiola (eight vs Bournemouth and eight Watford) has a better 100 per cent winning record against an opponent in the competition's history.
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Fulham have won four of their last six Premier League games played on Mondays (L2), with their only victory so far this season coming in such a match (2-0 vs West Brom).
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Coming into the weekend's games, no side has conceded more Premier League goals than Fulham this season (18), with 33 per cent of these goals conceded coming in the opening 15 minutes of games (6) - also a league-high.
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Fulham's Bobby Reid has scored two goals in his last three league games, as many as he had in his previous 21 for the Cottagers. His three goals in eight Premier League games this season is just two fewer than he scored in 27 appearances in his previous campaign in the competition (five in 2018-19).
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Of the 6 away games Fulham has lost, they conceded first 6 times.
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Leicester have won both of their Monday Premier League games so far in 2020 by an aggregate score of 8-1 - the Foxes have never won three consecutive Premier League games played on a Monday before.
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None of Leicester's last 13 Premier League games have ended level (W7 L6), the longest current run without a draw in the competition.
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Leicester have lost three of their last five Premier League home games (W2), as many as they had in their previous 20 at King Power Stadium (W12 D5).
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Of the 11 league games Leicester has won at home, they scored first 8 times.
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Leicester have conceded 1 goal or less in 14 of their last 20 home league games.