Leicester City vs Newcastle United
The 35th round of the 2020/21 Premier League kicks off with a cracker on Friday night when high flying Leicester City face an in-form Newcastle United.
The Foxes are in control of their destiny in the hunt for a Champions League place, currently in third position and five points clear of West Ham in fifth, while the Magpies have pretty much guaranteed their place in the top flight next season. Things looked grim for Steve Bruce’s team three weeks ago, but eight points from the last five games has left Newcastle nine above the drop zone and with just four games to play.
Arguably Brendan Rodgers’ hosts have more to play for and the Leicester City vs Newcastle United betting odds back them to get the three points they need to keep their top four campaign on track.
Talking Points
Big finish for the Foxes
While their destiny is in their own hands for sure, Leicester’s players know all too well how a strong position can suddenly become rather less comfortable, as they handed over a 14 point advantage to gift the final Champions League place to Manchester United last term. They are determined not to make the same mistake again and Brendan Rodgers’ boys have five huge games to take them to the finish line.
After this clash with Newcastle, the Foxes face the Red Devils again on the following Wednesday, and their final two games are against top four rivals Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. There’s plenty there for SBOTOP Premier League fans to look forward to, but for Foxes’ supporters they want to emerge with a Champions League place firmly secured, as soon as possible.
And before they face Chelsea in the league, the two teams meet in the FA Cup final on 15th May. It could be a spectacular finish to the season for the Foxes, but equally Thomas Tuchel’s Blues are chasing glory on three fronts, still in the Champions League at the time of writing.
While Jamie Vardy is top scoring for Leicester with 13 goals, the recent form of Kelechi Iheanacho has been a real boost to the Foxes. The Nigerian striker put in a man-of-the-match performance recently to help the Foxes beat Crystal Palace and has ten league goals to his name.
Allan is a Saint for Newcastle
While the Foxes are blessed with a number of attacking players with genuine flair, Newcastle have struggled to excite this season. The Geordies made a strong start to the campaign but then slumped for around five months to find themselves in real danger of the drop, at one point, very recently, being favourites for the third relegation place.
But the return from sickness and injury of Allan Saint-Maximin has saved Steve Bruce’s team, and possibly even his job! In his second season at the club, following his transfer from Nice, the French winger has dazzled with his lightning fast running, neat footwork and clinical finishing. He’s the master of the solo goal and can give defenders nightmares, able to catch them on the hop with his electric turn of pace.
Saint-Maximins’s return to fitness coincided with an impressive run of Premier League 2021 results, including victories over West Ham and Burnley, and draws with Spurs and Liverpool; but the Magpies were flat in a 2-0 home defeat to Arsenal, and will be missing defender Fabian Schar who saw red against the Gunners.
History
The head to heads between these two Premier League mainstays have been well contested, with the Foxes holding the narrowest of leads at 13 to 12 victories and there have been six draws.
Leicester are unbeaten in the last four meetings, winning the most recent clash 2-1 at St James’ Park with goals from James Maddison and Youri Tielemans.
And the last meeting at the King Power Stadium, at the beginning of the 2019/20 season resulted in a thumping 5-0 win for the Foxes.
Betting Tip
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Leicester City vs Newcastle United | Half Time Full Time Home-Home @ 1.98 |
| May 8, 3:00 (GMT+8) |
The hosts are highly fancied to win this clash at odds of 1.44, while Newcastle are at 6.18 and the draw is 4.26.
With an enviable array of talent at his disposal Brendan Rodgers has built a top class team at the King Power and they have the resilience to see this campaign through. And with a tough run of fixtures to come the Foxes will want to put distance between themselves and fifth place.
If they can keep Saint-Maximin quiet then Leicester should pick up another three points before their rivals play.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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|---|---|---|---|
| = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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