The Premier League weekend begins on Friday night this week when two midlands rivals battle it out at the King Power Stadium as Leicester City host Nottingham Forest in a match where little love is likely to be lost throughout.
Both sides have made acceptable starts to the season which should give both the belief that they can come out on top here and make a significant move in the league table ahead of the remainder of the weekend matches. The rivalry nature of this one should ensure it is competitive.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Friday Night Football show which will be shown on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels. The programme begins at 7pm with kick off coming at 8pm.
Leicester City
After a period of adjusting to the Premier League, Leicester City have found their feet in the last couple of matches, winning both of them, and they head into the derby looking for a third win in succession. Should they get it then they would move into the top 10 of the table ahead of the remainder of the weekend matches. More importantly, they would move nine points clear of the drop zone and would be in position where they can go about sustaining their Premier League status.
The good thing for Leicester is that they are scoring goals. Only Brentford have scored more than them in the bottom 13 in the Premier League, although their xG figure would suggest they are outperforming their chances which is never a great sign in the long-term. What certainly isn’t a good such a good thing is the fact that they are third worst in the league for xG against and they are going to need to tighten that up if they are to survive this season.
Nottingham Forest
It has been a very good start to the season for Nottingham Forest, especially when you factor in how tough it was last term, and they begin the weekend in eighth spot in the table. Such has been the strength of their start to the season they could move into the top five ahead of the remainder of the matches should they come out on top here. That would represent a very fine turnaround under Nuno and would surely have the Tricky Trees looking at a top half finish this season.
The big thing for Forest is that after eight matches this term only Liverpool have conceded fewer goals than them. On the flip side of that only four sides have scored less goals than them and something will give with one of those two records over the course of the campaign and it will be interesting to see which one it is. Forest are undefeated on their travels this season which includes a win at Liverpool so they will feel confident here.
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Team News
Leicester City look like they will be without Jannik Vestergaard for a couple of weeks after he has picked up an injury. Patson Daka and Hamza Choudhury are both injured but Abdul Fatawu could come in to start after his impressive cameo off the bench last week.
James Ward-Prowse and Morgan Gibbs-White have both served their suspension although the latter is said to be a doubt with his ankle injury. Nuno won’t be on the touchline for this match but he could make some rotational changes given his side only played on Monday night.
Betting
I’m going to get a little jiggy with my bet for this match because I wanted to take Nottingham Forest on the draw no bet but the price is just a little skinnier than I would like. I do think they are the ones to be on though. I’ve never deviated from my thought that the promoted three will be relegated and while Leicester City have done well to win their last two matches, they were outplayed by a poor Southampton side for 45 minutes and I don’t think Forest will let them back in if they get in front.
I don’t think we are going to see a high scoring match here because Forest are very tight defensively and aren’t likely to open their shoulders up too much on the road and also they have had a short turnaround here. Rather than combine Forest on the draw no bet with under 3.5 goals to get a decent price only for it to become a bet on under 3.5 goals if it is a draw, I’ll pair up the Forest/Draw double chance with under 3.5 goals which gives us a wide range of scores on our side. We would have Forest wins by 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 and 2-1 as well as the 0-0 and 1-1 draws and that feels enough for me.
Tips
Back Forest/Draw Double Chance + Under 3.5 goals Bet Builder for a 3/10 stake at 1.78 with William Hill
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