Both still on the hunt for their first win of the 2024-25 Premier League season, Leicester City and Everton cross paths at the King Power Stadium in Saturday afternoon's Premier League encounter.
The Foxes have had a week to dissect their Crystal Palace collapse in their 2-2 draw with the Eagles, while their Merseyside foes were dumped out of the EFL Cup in midweek by Southampton to continue their dreadful start.
Match preview
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Thanks to a playmaking masterclass from one of the unlikeliest sources in Wilfred Ndidi, Leicester found themselves two goals to the good at Selhurst Park last week, as the Nigerian midfielder laid on assists for Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi against an under-performing Palace.
However, Steve Cooper's men fell victim to a Jean-Philippe Mateta-inspired fightback in the capital, as the Frenchman reduced the arrears just after the restart before slotting home an injury-time penalty to cruelly deny Leicester their first league win since promotion.
Having thrown away that two-goal advantage in such disheartening circumstances, the winless Foxes are already hovering dangerously close to the dotted line in 15th place in the standings, although the green shoots of recovery were evident at Selhurst Park last weekend.
The omens are not promising for Cooper's men at this juncture, though, as in each of the previous three seasons where they have failed to win any of their first four Premier League games - including the 2022-23 campaign - they were relegated to the second tier.
While many EFL Cup competitors have engaged in their third-round ties this week, Leicester will have had the luxury of six days off competitive action before tackling the Toffees; their knockout battle with Walsall will take place next week instead, four days before a visit to Arsenal.
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Leicester boss Cooper can now empathise with Evertonian counterpart Sean Dyche when it comes to blowing two-goal advantages, albeit not to the degree of the 20th-placed Toffees, who experienced a torturous sense of deja vu at Villa Park last weekend.
A penny for the thoughts of pessimistic Everton supporters when Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put the Toffees 2-0 up against Aston Villa, who then took a leaf out of Bournemouth's comeback book as Ollie Watkins's brace and Jhon Duran's thunderbolt completed a spectacular turnaround.
Premier League or EFL Cup, the story remains the same for Everton, who also drew first blood in their third-round clash with Southampton in the latter competition before letting their lead slip and ultimately crashing out on penalties; Ashley Young was guilty of the decisive miss.
Even though the visitors are sat dead last in the Premier League table and have lost their first four league games for the first time since 1958, the hierarchy have reportedly still placed their full faith in under-fire coach Dyche, despite sensational reports of a possible David Moyes return.
Everton only took one point from a possible six against Leicester before the Foxes' demotion in 2022-23, although they have managed to avoid defeat in each of their last three trips to the King Power Stadium, where the Foxes' most recent win in this fixture came in the pre-lockdown days of 2019.
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Team News
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Leicester's attacking contingent will be boosted by the return of Odsonne Edouard this weekend - the Crystal Palace loanee could not face his parent club at Selhurst Park but could now belatedly make his debut for the Foxes.
However, Edouard is fighting an uphill battle to replace the timeless Vardy, who boasts 12 goal contributions from his last eight games against the team sat at the bottom of the Premier League table, nine of his own and three assists.
There has been no change to the hosts' injury situation since last week, as Patson Daka and Jakub Stolarczyk both continue their recoveries from ankle problems, but Cooper otherwise has a fully-fit squad to select from.
Meanwhile, Everton's lowly situation has not been helped by a spate of injuries and illnesses; left-back Vitaliy Mykolenko felt too under the weather to continue against Villa and was also unavailable for the cup defeat to Southampton.
Mykolenko is in with a strong chance of coming back for this game, while Calvert-Lewin, James Tarkowski and Michael Keane should also be fine, but Seamus Coleman (calf), James Garner (illness), Idrissa Gueye (personal), Nathan Patterson (thigh), Chermiti (ankle), Jarrad Branthwaite (groin) and Armando Broja (calf) are all absent.
Despite missing the spot kick that sent the Toffees out of the EFL Cup, veteran full-back Young should be among the handful of players reinstated to Everton's starting lineup, a list that also includes Jack Harrison and under-fire goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Hermansen; Justin, Okoli, Faes, Kristiansen; Winks, Skipp; Ayew, Ndidi, Mavididi; Vardy
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Doucoure, Iroegbunam; Harrison, Ndiaye, McNeil; Calvert-Lewin
We say: Leicester City 2-1 Everton
Leicester have made a habit of dominating teams starting the day at the bottom of the Premier League table - the Foxes have won their last five home games against 20th-placed teams, scoring 17 goals and conceding just one in the process.
That streak should become six on Saturday, as there is not a single silver lining in sight for the defensively suspect Toffees, while the Foxes are showing plenty of promise in attack with new assist king Ndidi pulling the strings.
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