Leicester City will aim to continue their celebrations on Monday night when they are involved in the one Sky Bet Championship match which takes place when they make the trip to Deepdale to take on Preston North End.
The Foxes have already celebrated winning promotion to the Premier League and if they come out on top in Lancashire they will claim the title ahead of their final match next week. Preston aren’t playing for anything but pride so they could be ideal dance partners.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the extended build-up beginning at 7pm ahead of the 8pm kick off.
Preston North End
This season might well go down as one of disappointment overall for Preston North End when you consider that they were the pacesetters right back at the beginning of it and in the top six for so long but were they to get one more point from their last two matches they will secure another top half finish, which would be a decent effort when you consider their budget and what they are working with. Motivation for this one could come in that and also in the fact that they will want to go out with a win in their last home game of the campaign.
The season probably has caught up with Preston though. Their hopes of reaching the play-offs ended when they lost to Norwich three games ago and they have lost both of their matches since without scoring which suggests that they are struggling to get motivated to deliver the goods. A couple of injuries too many is probably another reason but they do have nothing to lose here if they can find it in themselves to get up for this game.
Leicester City
Leicester City have had their wobble on their way to promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking but they have come out the other side and now can give it everything to attempt to win the title. The Foxes have won their last two matches and won them reasonably emphatically, certainly the second of those wins, and one more will mean they can have a real party ahead of their final game of the season next week.
Leicester clearly celebrated winning promotion on Friday night so they probably do need to perform here because their critics will be all over them if they don’t. They are now the second highest scoring team in the division while maintaining the best defensive record in it but although no team in the Championship have more points on their travels this term, they are without a win in four away from the King Power Stadium so that might give them something to prove.
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Team News
Preston North End are going to be without the likes of Brad Potts, Ali McCann and Ben Whiteman who are all out injured. Milutin Osmajic will be looking to come into the side after a cameo off the bench last time out.
Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca has reported no fresh injury concerns for this match although whether he has any players a little worse for wear remains to be seen. Hmaza Chowdhury will be looking to return to the starting XI.
Betting
I think Leicester City are good things here. Preston North End have been in a false position for most of the season and it has begun to tell down the home straight. If you look at where they should be based on xG per game they should be second from bottom in the division and they are in the same spot for xG difference so the fact that they are likely to finish in the top 10 is no mean achievement but I expect them to be found out again here.
Throw in the lack of motivation for the home side compared to the huge incentive for the visitors and I only want to be on Leicester here. The question is how we best play them to get maximum value and I think it is best to keep things simple and take the newly promoted side to cover a -1 Asian handicap line. Any Leicester win guarantees us our money back but a win by more than a goal and we win in full. Preston recently lost 3-0 to a hit and miss Southampton side and in their last nine games they have also lost to Birmingham, Stoke and QPR who are at the wrong end of the table. Leicester can show their class in this one.
Tips
Back Leicester City (-1AH) to beat Preston North End for a 3/10 stake at 1.98 with Bet365
