Leicester will look to pile the pressure on Fulham boss Scott Parker tonight, as the Cottagers reflect on two costly penalty misses in recent weeks.
In tonight’s other game, West Ham host Aston Villa in what looks like a tight mid-table tie. Aston Villa can be explosive in attack, but West Ham’s tough midfield two have helped them to recover from an unsteady start to the season.
We’ll take a closer look at both of the games with our Premier League Betting Preview…
In their nine Premier League games so far this season, Leicester have been awarded an eye-watering eight penalties – four more than anyone else. Fortunately for them, they have a couple of excellent penalty-takers in Jamie Vardy and Youri Tielemans. Between them, they’ve scored seven and missed just one – with Jamie Vardy making amends after missing with his second penalty against Wolves.
Fulham – who with four penalties awarded have the joint-second most – have failed to score all but one of them. Ademola Lookman’s cringe-inducing Panenka miss was almost equalled by Ivan Cavaleiro’s slip against Everton last week, as his mishit effort cleared the crossbar. Those misses have potentially cost them five points and they’ll need to be far more ruthless if they’re to have any hope of staying in the Premier League.
Leicester are 8/15 to win this one, with the draw at 10/3 and a Fulham win at 11/2.
Leicester are likely to welcome Wesley Fofana, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Nampalys Mendy and Jamie Vardy back to the starting line-up, with all five omitted from the eleven in their dramatic 3-3 draw with Braga last time out.
For Fulham, Aboubakar Kamara is expected to be available once more.
Jamie Vardy has eight goals in nine appearances so far this term and he’s 21/10 to open the scoring here, or 8/13 to score anytime.
Aleksandar Mitrovic looks most likely for Fulham and is 11/2 to score the opener, or can be backed at 21/10 to find the net anytime during the game.
The Hammers have lost just once in their last six games and Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek have proven a potent pairing in the middle of the park. Will that be enough to neuter Aston Villa?
The Villains have attacked with swagger at times this season but will be without Ross Barkley – meaning much of the creative burden will rest on Jack Grealish. Containing the threat of Grealish will be key to West Ham’s plans tonight and they’ll be looking for a similarly disciplined performance to those that saw them run out as 1-0 winners over Sheffield United and Fulham.
The other factor to consider is that Villa have been exceptional away from home so far this term – they’ve won all three away games without conceding and can be backed at 5/1 to Win to Nil again here.
West Ham are the 13/10 favourites to win here, with 5/2 about the draw and an Aston Villa win at 19/10.
West Ham may opt to continue with Sebastien Haller up-front, despite Michail Antonio’s recovery from a hamstring injury – the former buried the winner against Sheffield United last week and David Moyes could reward him with a starting berth.
Other than Ross Barkley’s absence, Villa have no fresh injury worries, which could mean we see Conor Hourihane brought into the midfield.
West Ham forward Michail Antonio is 4/1 to score first tonight or 7/5 to score anytime – with Sebastien Haller at 8/5 to find the net once more.
For Villa, six-goal striker Ollie Watkins leads the betting, at 9/2 to open the scoring, or 7/4 to score anytime.
