Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the Championship match.
Leicester City have a squad that clearly should allow them to compete, if not for automatic promotion then at least for a play-off place, but something is not working. Their place has been taken by Stoke City, who were not among the main contenders before the season but are now third.
Leicester City
All Leicester City players are valued at almost 170 million euros, the third-highest figure in the league. Even leaders Coventry City are significantly lower. Stoke City, with their 60 million, only just make the top half. Yet Leicester City are actually in 12th place in the standings. That is already an improvement: before matchday 14 they were 14th. A home draw with Middlesbrough (1:1) – a good result – and an away win over Norwich City, who are stuck in the relegation zone, (2:1) have allowed them to climb a little.
Stoke City
Stoke City lost their last match, but they were far from alone: nine other clubs have also failed to cope with Coventry City. The point is that they were second at that moment. The team climbed that high not thanks to spectacular scoring (1.4 goals per game at the moment) but because of their solid defence. Before facing the leaders, they had conceded only nine goals, and Coventry City only broke Stoke City down in the 86th minute. Even so, no team in the league defend better than Stoke City: they have conceded the fewest goals (10) and 8.66 fewer than expected from their xGA.
Leicester City vs Stoke City Prediction
Leicester City, who have averaged 0.8 goals per game over their last five rounds, clearly do not look ready to score more than once against Stoke City, which means the visitors should avoid defeat. We are taking an accumulator combining the Double Chance on them and under 3.5 goals.
