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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Sport
Luke Bosher

Leicester vs Tottenham prediction: How will Premier League meeting play out?

James Maddison scored a brilliant winner to help Leicester City come from behind and beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday in a match dominated by VAR drama.

The Video Assistant Referee was heavily involved early on after Wilfred Ndidi had bundled the ball into the net, only for the effort to be ruled out for offside.

There was no question over the opening goal in the 29th minute as Harry Kane fired a stunning strike past Kasper Schmeichel to give Spurs the lead.

Serge Aurier thought he had doubled the visitors' advantage only for VAR to intervene again, much to the home fans' delight, with Son Heung-min adjudged offside in the build- up.

That proved crucial as Ricardo Pereira levelled things up in the 69th minute from 12 yards, swinging the momentum in the home side's favour.

Maddison completed the turnaround with a superb strike from 25 yards five minutes from time, drilling the ball past the despairing dive of Hugo Lloris to move Leicester up to provisional second in the table.

Reuters

Hello and welcome along to our live coverage of the day's first Premier League game...
Leicester host Tottenham in the first Premier League match of the day. Some early team news for you.
 
Ben Chilwell is expected to be available for Leicester despite a minor fitness issue this week but Matty James is missing as he continues his recovery from Achilles surgery.
 
Tottenham full-backs Serge Aurier and Danny Rose did not travel to Greece on Wednesday for Spurs' Champions League game with Olympiacos and could return to the team but Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon remain out.

Forward Son Heung-min is likely to start after beginning on the bench in midweek.

In midweek Spurs threw away a two-goal lead against Olympiacos to open their Champions League game with a draw and it is the second time this season that Tottenham have been pegged back despite a two goal advantage. 
 
Captain Harry Kane claims his side aren't learning from their mistakes and that they need to improve, he said:
 
"You can see why the manager is frustrated, he has been here for five years now and we are still making similar mistakes as we were the first year.

"We are not young any more, we are not inexperienced. We have played in big games for club and country,

"We have to try to find a way to get around it and improve and get better. That is all we can try to do."

After a promising season where Tottenham finished fourth in the Premier League and reached the Champions League final last year, they haven't yet capitalised on that success. 
 
Manager Mauricio Pochettino believes a change in attitude and approach is the best way to fix Spurs' early season problems.

"We are conceding a lot of chances and lots of goals and we need to change that," said Pochettino.

"The only way we can change is being more demanding from ourselves. That is the way we are going to approach the different days and be more consistent.

"Training needs to be harder. Psychologically harder."

For Leicester the opposite is true. They've started the season beautifully and are being seen as one of the sides that could push into the top six this year. 
 
Last time out they went down 1-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford after Marcus Rashford converted a penalty chance, but for the majority of the game Leicester were the better side. 
 
Since Claude Puel left the club they have only lost one of their eight Premier League matches at home and with Spurs having already been defeated by Newcastle this season today's game is a good opportunity for Leicester to push for a win. 
 
Another point in their favour this that manager Brendan Rodgers has defeated Tottenham five times in his last six Premier League outings against the club, although he was in charge of Liverpool at the time. 
Leicester City's danger men, Jamie Vardy and James Maddison are in contrasting form for the Foxes. 
 
Vardy has scored 31 Premier League goals against the top six since August 2014, more than any other player. He's also been directly involved in 14 goals in 15 games under Brendan Rodgers, scoring 12 and assisting two.
 
Meanwhile James Maddison has attempted the most shots without scoring in the Premier League this season. He has failed to score in 28 shots in the top flight since April with only one of the 16 he has taken this season being on target.
 
Although his willingness to shoot should not be overlooked as form is only temporary and if his luck changes Leicester could become a formidable team indeed.
 
Team news - Tottenham
Team news - Leicester 
 
Team news
 
Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino makes six changes to the side lost gave up a two-goal lead to Olympiacos on Wednesday.
 
Serge Aurier and Danny Rose start in the full back positions after being rested for the Champions League tie and Heung-min Son is restored to the starting XI.
 
Hugo Lloris misses out for the birth of his child with Dele Alli also missing from the squad. They're replaced by Paulo Gazzaniga and Erik Lamela with Moussa Sissoko also getting a start.
 
Christian Eriksen and Lucas Moura drop to the bench where 20-year-old Alfie Whiteman is the substitute goalkeeper.
 
 
Just the two changes for Leicester as Brendan Rodgers brings Ayoze Perez and Harvey Barnes in the team with Demarai Gray and Hamza Choudhury dropping to the bench.

Brendan Rodgers will get his first chance to come against Mauricio Pochettino since his time in charge of Liverpool and he's been speaking about the rise of the Tottenham manager.

"It’s the first time I have come across him now for a few years and he’s a very talented coach. I think he’s done a brilliant job [at Tottenham]," said Rodgers.

"My Liverpool team played against his team early on in his reign at White Hart Lane, so I got a good chance to see where he was at at that early stage of his career at Tottenham.

"When I look now at where he’s at, where he’s taken the club and what he’s done in the period that he’s been there… it’s been exceptional."

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino feels it's too early to talk about contenders in the Premier League with the new season only five games old. 

“We will see,” Pochettino said. “It’s too early to talk about contenders and what will happen in the future. Still all the teams are finding their best."

Head-to-head
 
Tottenham have won four of their last five Premier League games against Leicester including the last three clashes.
 
Victory today would see Spurs win four consecutive top-flight matches against the Foxes for the first time.
 
But Leicester have scored 44 Premier League goals against Tottenham, more than against any other side.

This is a big game for Tottenham. If they win they will move up to second in the Premier League table but a loss would see Leicester leap frog them.

More than that, Spurs are winless in their last eight Premier League away games with only two points, their worst run since a 10-game streak in 2006.

They won 11 of their opening 13 league matches on the road last season but lost the remaining six, and have drawn twice in the current campaign at Manchester City and Arsenal.

Two only England's finest strikers take to the pitch today, Harry Kane for Tottenham and Jamie Vardy for Leicester. Brendan Rodgers insists he wouldn't take Kane over Vardy even if he had the choice.
 
“Harry is a top, top player but I wouldn’t swap Jamie,” said the Foxes boss. “I have worked closely with Jamie for some time now and there’s not many in world football you would swap him for."
 
Five minutes to go until Premier League Saturday gets underway, I think we'll see a few goals today as Tottenham are in with a chance of taking the three points but I reckon Leicester will edge it 2-1.
 
What do you think?
KICK OFF
Leicester 0 - 0 Tottenham
 
Kick off: Tottenham get the game started, it's a perfect day for football, the sun is shining but it's not too warm.
 
Leicester win the ball and send it to Vardy, Vertonghen makes the interception but Vardy ws offside anyway.
Leicester 0 - 0 Tottenham
 
3 mins: Perez fouls Winks and Spurs have a free kick. It's played quickly to Lamela who passes the ball to Son. Son runs the ball into the right side of the box and shoots but puts the ball wide of goal. 
Leicester 0 - 0 Tottenham
 
6 mins: Perez takes down Rose now and Spurs have another free kick. It comes into the Leicester box and Vardy heads it away. 
 
Winks takes the ball off Maddison and Lamela works it out to Aurier on the right wing. He tries to cross the ball but connects poorly with it and kicks it out of play.
Leicester 0 - 0 Tottenham
 
9 mins: A really good run from Vardy wins Leicester a corner. Maddison takes it and the ball is flicked on at the near post and bounces all the way through the blend of blue and white shirts. Ndidi chases it down and sends his return cross out for a goal kick.  
Leicester 0 - 0 Tottenham
 
12 mins: Vertonghen is almost caught on the ball by Jamie Vardy but a shoulder push from the Leicester striker gives Spurs a much needed free kick. 
 
A great move of one touch football sends Spurs quickly down the right hand side, they then switch the play and Rose puts a cross into the box but has it blocked. 

Please allow a moment for the blog to load.

Our prediction

Leicester have struggled defensively this season, and Spurs hit four last time out against Palace, so it seems likely that the away side will get chances.

The hosts have looked at their best when facing teams that play expansively, as Spurs tend to, so Jamie Vardy and James Maddison should have more joy than they did against United last weekend.

Leicester 1-2 Spurs.

When is it?

The game kicks off at 12.30pm on Saturday September 21.

How can I watch it?

BT Sport 1 will be showing the match, with coverage starting at 12pm.

BT subscribers can also live stream the match on PC, laptop or mobile using the BT Sport website or app.

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