Leicester City v Palace

King Power Stadium, Saturday 3.00pm

Mile Jedinak

Story so far

Leicester lost their second league game in a row as they fell to a 3-1 defeat to Manchester Utd at Old Trafford. Marcin Wasilewski grabbed a consolation goal for the Foxes, and Nigel Pearson will be hoping his side can re-group ahead of the visit of a rejuvenated Crystal Palace.

Riyad Mahrez has continued to be one of Leicester’s best performers in front of goal this season, racking up an impressive 29 attempts on goal. To date only 58.6% of these have been on target but more goals will surely be on the way this season if he continues to get in good positions. Mahrez is an industry best 53/10 with 888sport.com to score at any time this weekend.

Defender Wes Morgan will likely be charged with containing a rejuvenated Palace attack this weekend. The EA SPORTS Player Performance Index shows that the Leicester captain has so far won an excellent 95.5% of his 22 attempted challenges this season, as well as completing a squad-best 290 total defensive contributions (blocks, clearances, interceptions, tackles won).

Paul Konchesky has been using all of his previous Premier League experience to good effect this season, repeatedly getting into advanced positions to help out his more attacking colleagues. He’s completed more passes in the opponent’s half than any other Leicester defender this season, with 277 to his name so far.

Alan Pardew suffered his first defeat as Crystal Palace manager thanks to an early goal from Everton’s Romelu Lukaku which saw the Toffee’s head back to Goodison with all three points after a 0-1 victory.

Crystal Palace will be keen to get Yannick Bolasie involved as soon as possible now that DR Congo’s African Cup of Nations has come to an end. His creativity has been one of the major positives of their season so far, his 53 dribbles and five assists both squad bests according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.

Dwight Gayle has consistently impressed up front for Palace in recent weeks, appearing to have taken up the challenge laid down by new manager Alan Pardew for the Eagles’ more creative players to start asserting themselves on games. He has done exactly that with five goals from just 12 attempts on goal. Gayle is 45/17 with 888sport.com to score at any time this weekend.

Defender Joel Ward will no doubt be in the thick of it again this weekend as he looks to shut down the Leicester attack. His stats show that he is more than up to the challenge though, leading the way for defensive contributions (blocks, interceptions, clearances, tackles won) as he does with 213 to his name.

Data supplied by the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Select and manage your own team of stars at fantasy.premierleague.com or with FIFA Ultimate Team for FIFA 14.

Team news

The Eagles will be without captain Mile Jedinak who has returned victorious from the Asian Cup with a sore ankle. New signing Pape Souare could make his Palace debut at left-back after arriving from Lille last week. Marouane Chamakh could return after breaking his nose against Everton last time out.

Leicester defender Robert Huth, who came in on loan from Stoke on deadline day, is suspended. Matty James is back after serving his suspension, along with Riyad Mahrez following Algeria's African Nations Cup campaign and Matt Upson has recovered from a foot injury. However, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel (foot) and striker Chris Wood (ankle) are sidelined.

Leicester (from): Schwarzer, Hamer, Simpson, De Laet, Moore, Konchesky, Upson, Morgan, Wasilewski, Schlupp, Cambiasso, James, King, Drinkwater, Mahrez, Albrighton, Vardy, Ulloa, Kramaric, Nugent.

Palace (from): Speroni, Hennessey, Ward, Kelly, Mariappa, Hangeland, Souare, Dann, Delaney, Bannan, Guedioura, Mutch, McArthur, Ledley, Puncheon, Zaha, Gayle, Sanogo, Chamakh, Campbell, Gayle, Ameobi.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"Do I feel like we're safe? No I don't and I won't let that feeling manifest itself. The team has good experience, good ability and we potentially could finish mid-table if everything fell into place.

"But I think we all know we've got a big battle on our hands. No-one has fallen away this year. Every game will be competitive and we have to make sure we are too.

"They're a tough team and they've done some business in January. All the teams down the bottom now are really beginning to see that the finish line is not that far away. Points are very important. It's a game where we could put great distance between us and them. And for them, a win would bring them really tight to us, so it's a crucial game."

Leicester City - league stats

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
27/09/2014	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Leicester City
20/04/2013	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 2	Leicester City
27/10/2012	League	Leicester City	1 - 2	Crystal Palace
02/01/2012	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Leicester City
20/11/2011	League	Leicester City	3 - 0	Crystal Palace

All time results

Last meeting

Palace 2-0 Leicester City

Saturday September 27 2014

Palace: Speroni, Dann, Ward, Kelly, Delaney, Ledley, McArthur, Jedinak, Puncheon, Campbell (Chamakh, 73), Bolasie (Guedioura, 89)

Subs not used: Hennessey, Mariappa, Gayle, Doyle, Zaha

Goals: Campbell (51), Jedinak (54)

Leicester City: Schmeichel, Konchesky, Morgan, de Laet (Simpson, 64), Moore, Hammond (James, 71), Cambiasso (Mahrez, 64), Drinkwater, Vardy, Nugent, Ulloa

Subs not used: King, Wasilewski, Schlupp, Hamer

Bookings: Vardy, Simpson

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