Stephy Mavididi out, 4-3-3: The predicted Leicester City XI to face Preston | OneFootball

Highlights

Tuesday night sees a heavyweight clash take place in the Championship.

Top of the table Leicester City taken on Preston North End who sit in third place in the league table. Both sides have only lost the one game, but there's a four point gap between the two clubs after nine games.

That first defeat for Preston came on Saturday, at the hands of West Bromwich Albion. A 4-0 loss at Deepdale will have been a hard pill to swallow for Ryan Lowe and his team. On the other hand Leicester were also involved in a goal-heavy result in Lancashire, beating Blackburn Rovers 4-1.

A result like that should command the same team play again on Tuesday. But, with only a couple of days between the games, there are changes to be made.

GK: Mads Hermansen

City have only conceded six times, in the league, all season. One of those did come from a horrible pass to Harry Winks, at the weekend, which led to the midfielder being dispossessed in his own box, and Sammie Szmodics scoring.

Despite this blunder, the Danish keeper has prevented 1.44 goals from going in this season, and he's also helped Enzo Maresca transform the club's style of play; but they do need to be careful in their own box.

RB: Ricardo Pereira

The Portuguese international was brought off on Saturday, for Hamza Choudhury, with around 20 minutes to go. Maresca will have had the game against Preston in mind.

The Foxes were only 2-1 up at the time, so it could have backfired. But they ended up scoring two goals after Pereira came off, and he should be a lot more fresh going into Tuesday night.

The Belgian got his scoring tally underway for the season, against Rovers, heading past Aynsley Pears in just the fourth minute.

He's proving himself to be one of the top defenders in the league.

CB: Jannik Vestergaard

This pairing is looking like the Italian manager's preferred one. When Leicester were in the Premier League, Vestergaard was struggling to get minutes.

The club's relegation has rejuvenated the club and their Danish defender.

LB: James Justin

The English full-back didn't have much to do at the weekend. He wasn't involved in the opposition's goal, and he wasn't required to be much of an attacking threat, even though most of the goals came from the wide areas.

But he was solid enough and is expected to keep his place.

CM: Harry Winks

The former Tottenham Hotspurs player did give away the ball for Szmodics' goal, but it was an absolute hospital pass from the keeper.

Tuesday night is a very big game for Leicester, and we expect them to use the experience and quality of Winks to get them over the line.

To start off with, what a pass that was for Jamie Vardy's goal. The Nigerian isn't known for blinding vision when it comes to teammates, but it's clearly in his locker.

That game, and most of the other games he's been involved with this season, showed the quality that he still possesses; quality that they may lose in just a few months.

CM: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall

Speaking of quality, this lads good isn't he. It was a beautiful finish by him, from a potentially slightly over-hit pass from Yunus Akgun, to lift it over the keeper, at a tight angle, and into the net.

He has three goals and three assists in the Championship, this season. Brilliant numbers for a central midfielder.

RW: Adbul Fatawu Issahaku

The Ghanaian has been in a rich vein of form since arriving at the club. Since joining Leicester, the 19-year-old has only had one match, in the Championship, in which he put in a less than seven out of 10 performance, according to Sofascore.

When a player is on it, let them keep doing their thing.

ST: Jamie Vardy

That same sentiment can be applied to this club legend. The captain has provided four goals and an assist in his last eight games. It's a testament to who he is as a player and a professional to be able to do that at his age.

Mavididi's performance against Blackburn wasn't inspiring enough to guarantee his spot in the team. He didn't complete a single dribble, and didn't get any shots off.

He was brought off for the Turkish winger with just over 20 minutes to go, and Akgun got an assist. That's his second in as many games.