Brendan Rodgers takes his side to his old club as third hosts first.
Liverpool come into this match in mixed form. That 7-2 defeat at Villa Park will continue to hang over them for the whole season but since football’s restart in June, they haven’t been at their best especially their defence.
According to WhoScored, they’re conceding 8.5 shots a game. Although this is down from the nine they were allowing last season, the quality of these chances has increased. In 2019/20, Understat’s expected goals (xG) model said Liverpool should have been conceding 1.04 goals per game but post lockdown this jumped to 1.21. This season it has increased again to 1.26, a small increase from 1.21 but still enough for only the ninth best defence in the league. With players like Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho and Joe Gomez all injured, Liverpool’s back line will have to be a makeshift one meaning their defence woes could get worse.
This is great news for Jamie Vardy. In just 561 minutes this term, he has eight goals and an assist giving him a goal involvement every 63 minutes. This means he’s been directly involved in 50% of Leicester’s goals this season. The English striker also has a great record against the “top 6” sides.
Leicester’s talisman has 54 goal involvements (goals and assists) in 67 matches against the “top 6”. It gets worse for Liverpool fans as Vardy has seven goals and an assist in 11 matches versus the Reds, he has only scored more goals against Man City and Arsenal.
With all of this in mind and Mohamed Salah testing positive for coronavirus meaning he’ll likely miss the game, would have Liverpool fans worried. However, according to Transfermarkt, he has only beaten Liverpool once in four meetings and he has never beaten Jürgen Klopp.
In fact, Leicester City haven’t beaten the Reds in the league since February 2017. This coupled with seven of the Foxes’ 18 goals have been penalties and Liverpool are unbeaten at home in the league in 63 matches, even winning 29 of their last 30, would cause concern for Leicester fans despite them wining their last four away league games.
This season in the league, Liverpool’s games averaged 4.25 goals whilst the visitors average 3.38. This points to a lot of goals in this match especially with Liverpool’s injury crisis. There’s every chance Leicester become the first away team in the Premier League to win at Anfield since Crystal Palace in April 2017.
Everything points to this being a game to remember.
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