In-form Foxes can afford to rest stars for Chelsea fixture
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Believe it or not, Leicester City are the form team of the Premier League, going by the last four fixtures as they have crucially won them all to lift themselves outside of the drop zone.
As a result of their remarkable season turnaround, they even have a game in hand of most of the top flight, and could see themselves as high up as 15th if they manage to beat runaway leaders Chelsea. They are 9/2 chances with Coral for victory, while a draw is 11/4.
However, Foxes boss Nigel Pearson has suggested that he could rotate his team for the midweek clash, so they can be fully prepared to take advantage of Newcastle United’s dire form when they face them in the next fixture.
Ahead of the match with Chelsea, Pearson said: “My focus is Leicester City, we will always do what is best for us. If we need to freshen it up, we will.
“[David] Nugent is injured, [Jeff] Schlupp is injured, [Jamie] Vardy had an injection in his foot just before the game. We will assess it.
“All we are interested in is that our fate is now in our hands and the longer we can keep that, the better the chance we have of surviving. All I’m interested in is keeping our players focused on winning games.”
Chelsea, therefore, are odds-on 4/6 favourites to win this match, and a more enticing 15/2 price to defeat Leicester 2-0, the same scoreline they beat them by in the reverse fixture this term.
The Blues are struggling with fire-power up front at present, though, as Diego Costa and Loic Remy look set to miss out yet again, meaning Mourinho could play without a recognised striker once more.
There is good news that Oscar is fit to feature, and the Brazilian is 2/1 to net anytime. Hazard, who netted against the Foxes at Stamford Bridge, is a 6/5 shout in the same market.
For Leicester, with the possible absence of Nugent and Vardy, could turn to Andrej Kramaric, who reportedly snubbed a move to Chelsea in favour of the East Midlands outfit in January. The Croatian was prolific in his home country, although is yet to make a mark in the Premier League, but is 7/2 to score anytime here.
