MY ACCOUNT
– Forest are unbeaten in seven home games, winning three and drawing four
– Leicester have lost their last three Premier League away games
– Recommended Bet: Forest Draw no Bet
After contrasting Carabao Cup results last week, East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest and Leicester will do battle in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
Forest booked their semi-final on penalties after being held to a 1-1 draw in the 90 minutes by Wolves, but boss Steve Cooper’s mood was soon dampened by news that shoot-out hero Dean Henderson would not be available for it.
Leicester lost to a spirited Newcastle side at St James’ Park on Tuesday to make it four straight defeats against top-flight opposition since the World Cup.
Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers is confident the club will secure some new signings in the January transfer window amid a concerning injury crisis.
Team news
Forest will be without several senior players, including defenders Omar Richards, Giulian Biancone and Moussa Niakhate, midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate and attacker Jesse Lingard.
Wily Boly could be added to that list after the centre-back pulled up with a muscle injury in Wednesday’s game against his former club at the City Ground.
Scott McKenna will probably come in for his first Premier League appearance since November.
Taiwo Awoniyi (groin) and Neco Williams (face) could be available again for the visit of the Foxes.
Leicester are likely to once more be without key players James Maddison (knee) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (glute).
Maddison is said to be “progressing well” from the injury he sustained against West Ham before the World Cup.
Ayoze Perez is a doubt after picking up a knock on Tuesday night while Dennis Praet has returned to training and will be assessed ahead of the game at the City Ground.
Rodgers could hand Kelechi Iheanacho a rare Premier League start after both Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka passed up opportunities to score against the Magpies in midweek.
The stats
Forest are now unbeaten in their last seven home games in all competitions.
Cooper’s side have failed to score in only one of their nine home games so far in this Premier League season.
The Foxes are looking to complete their first league double over Forest since 1971-72, a season that saw the Reds relegated from the top flight.
Vardy has scored just one goal in his 18 Premier League appearances this season, his lowest tally at this point in a season since 2014-15 (also one).
Prediction
Forest’s revival could continue as they are catching Leicester at a vulnerable time when confidence is low and reinforcements are desperately needed.
The Reds have shown resilience in their last two home games against Chelsea and Wolves by staying in the game when under pressure.
That is one of the qualities that Leicester have lacked this season as they remain the only top flight club yet to take a point after falling behind, which they have done in 11 of their 18 matches.
The one aspect that could prevent Forest from picking up all three points in this game is their inefficient finishing as they have one of the three worst shot conversion rates in the division.
The hosts are available to back at 17/20 with LiveScore Bet in the Draw No Bet market, which looks ideal for this scenario.
