Leicester City continue their bid to win the Europa Conference League with the first leg of their last-16 tie with Rennes on Thursday night.
At a time when the Foxes currently find themselves down in 12th position in the Premier League standings, French outfit Rennes occupy fourth place in Ligue 1.
Match preview
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Having once insinuated that he had not been paying attention to the workings of the Europa Conference League, it came across that Brendan Rodgers was not the biggest fan of another continental competition being added to the schedule.
However, it has aided Leicester's squad in their efforts to find some form, the 4-1 win over Randers on February 17 the first of four wins from five outings.
The level of opposition has not been that great, but there was a new-found resilience about how Leicester kept a clean sheet against Leeds United at the weekend, albeit through riding their luck on occasions.
Still sitting 12 points adrift of seventh-placed Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester are unlikely to secure European football through the Premier League, increasing the importannce of the contest on Thursday.
Leicester eventually prevailed 7-2 on aggregate in the previous round with Harvey Barnes and James Maddison netting two goals apiece against their Danish opponents.
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Rennes missed out on a trip to England earlier this campaign when their fixture at Tottenham Hotspur was postponed due to coronavirus cases in the opposition ranks.
Nevertheless, in recording a 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture, Rennes showed that they have enough quality to make this a 50-50 tie, particularly now that they are competing for second spot in Ligue 1.
Five wins from seven top-flight fixtures have left Bruno Genesio's team just three points adrift of Nice, and they will have high hopes of earning a return to the Champions League for 2022-23.
Ten goals have come from victories over Troyes, Montpellier and Angers, Gaetan Laborde scoring in each of those encounters to take his tally to 19 for the campaign.
Rennes have avoided defeat in each of their seven games in this competition, netting 15 times during those fixtures.
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Team News
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Rodgers has a choice to make at right-back with Ricardo Pereira and James Justin both close to recovering from injury and Hamza Choudhury having impressed in an unfamiliar role against Leeds.
There is also the option of recalling Jannik Vestergaard and using Daniel Amartey in a wider role, but the versatile defender may not be moved having helped keep a clean sheet at the weekend.
Elsewhere, Ademola Lookman, Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka are all pushing for an opportunity in the final third, especially with Jamie Vardy having been ruled out with a knee injury.
While Genesio may be prepared to name the same side that defeated Angers, the likes of Jeremy Doku are in contention for a recall.
Flavien Tait, who started four of their five group fixtures, is an option if Genesio wants to add an extra midfielder to his Rennes XI.
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Choudhury, Amartey, Soyuncu, Thomas; Tielemans, Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall; Lookman, Daka, Barnes
Rennes possible starting lineup:
Gomis; Traore, Omari, Aguerd, Meling; Bourigeaud, Santamaria, Martin, Terrier; Laborde, Guirassy
We say: Leicester City 2-1 Rennes
Given how Rennes fared against Spurs earlier in the season, Leicester will have to be on their 'A' game to prevail from this contest. While we feel that a clean sheet is unlikely, the Foxes still have enough quality in the final third to post a narrow success ahead of the trip to France.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Leicester City win with a probability of 53.35%. A win for Rennes had a probability of 24.72% and a draw had a probability of 21.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Leicester City win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.64%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.73%) and 2-0 (7.57%). The likeliest Rennes win was 1-2 (6.27%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.84%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 7.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Leicester City would win this match.
