The Leicester City manager must decide whether Jamie Vardy or Kelechi Iheanacho starts up front, with the latter expected to be available after recovering from injury
Leicester City could name an unchanged line-up at Newcastle despite falling to a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool last time out.
City could be relegated at St James’ Park on Monday night if results go against them over the weekend and then they fail to win against the Champions League-chasing Magpies. But despite the need for victory, there are not many changes Dean Smith could make.
The biggest decision he will have is up front, and whether to bring Kelechi Iheanacho straight back into the starting line-up in place of Jamie Vardy. The Nigerian is due to be fit to play after being “put on fast forward” in his recovery from a groin tear.
Iheanacho did well before his injury and is better at holding the ball up to bring others into play. But, it is Vardy that has the pace. Smith hinted that Iheanacho may only be on the bench, saying that he was lacking attacking options to turn to when he needed to change the game.
Asked what had been the biggest miss with Iheanacho sidelined for the past three games, Smith said: “Not having an option has been the biggest miss. No disrespect to anybody who was on the bench, but I think we had four or five defenders on the bench on Monday night against Liverpool.
“When you want to change things and you’re looking over your shoulder, you want options. I’m not saying Kels is going to be on the bench by any means because he started the games against Wolves and Leeds, and unfortunately got injured.”
Caglar Soyuncu remains injured so Jonny Evans is likely to keep his place at center-back alongside Wout Faes. A full-back duo of Ricardo Pereira and Timothy Castagne is again expected.
In midfield, a trio of Wilfred Ndidi, Boubakary Soumare, and Youri Tielemans is likely. Papy Mendy has not started a game under Smith, so it seems unlikely the Senegalese international will be called on by the manager now.
Meanwhile, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is only due to return to training on Saturday, and so may not be fit enough to replace any of the trio in the squad. He’s only started once under Smith in any case, his first game against Manchester City.
Joining Vardy up front will be James Maddison and Harvey Barnes, who have both been linked to Newcastle in recent months, the Magpies making two bids for Maddison last summer.
Predicted City line-up (4-3-3): Iversen; Ricardo, Faes, Evans, Castagne; Ndidi, Soumare, Tielemans; Maddison, Vardy, Barnes.
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