How Leicester City could set up under caretaker bosses Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell as they prepare to face Aston Villa in a crucial home match in their fight for Premier League survival
Leicester City begins life after Brendan Rodgers on Tuesday night but wholesale changes to the line-up are unlikely.
Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell have been handed the reins for the visit of Aston Villa for what is their second-ever game in joint-caretaker charge. Their first, between the tenures of Claude Puel and Rodgers, ended in a 2-1 home win over Brighton.
Interestingly, despite the malaise under Puel, Sadler, and Stowell made just two changes for their previous game, swapping in Ben Chilwell for Christian Fuchs and Demarai Gray for Rachid Ghezzal. Similarly, limited rotation is expected on Tuesday night.
The biggest change that could take place is upfront. Jamie Vardy has not started a Premier League game since the end of January, and for the first time this season, he didn’t even get on the pitch at Crystal Palace. But on a night when City need their fans on their side, Vardy could be called upon to provide the spark.
He only has one league goal this season, and his decline has suggested Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho are now better options. But his reputation as a big-game player remains, and he may get the call.
Beyond that, the likeliest change could come on the right-hand side. Rodgers’ half-time switch at Selhurst Park, taking off Tete for Ricardo Pereira and pushing Timothy Castagne into a more attacking role, worked well enough to get City in front, and so maybe deployed again.
In goal, Daniel Iversen deserves to keep his place, while at center-back, Harry Souttar and Wout Faes remain the obvious options, albeit another couple of days of training for Jonny Evans could have moved him into contention. Left-back Victor Kristiansen is expected to be fine to play, despite only managing 60 minutes at Palace.
Once again, there is a choice to be made in defensive midfield between the ball-playing Papy Mendy and defensive-minded Wilfred Ndidi. Based on Saturday’s performance, and the struggle to retain possession, Mendy may be the best bet, but Ndidi’s physicality on a night City needs to dominate the center of the park may be preferred. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and James Maddison will complete the midfield, and then Harvey Barnes will play on the left of the front three.
Predicted City line-up (4-3-3): Iversen; Ricardo, Souttar, Faes, Kristiansen; Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall, Maddison; Castagne, Vardy, Barnes.
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