How Leicester City could line up when they return to Championship action on Tuesday, with choices for manager Enzo Maresca to make in attacking midfield and up front
Enzo Maresca must again decide between three players for the attacking midfield role next to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall when he picks his Leicester City team to take on Swansea.
Despite the interest from Brighton, Dewsbury-Hall will start at the King Power Stadium. However, without Wilfred Ndidi or Cesare Casadei, there is a gap in the 11 that needs to be filled alongside him.
Ricardo Pereira moved forward from his usual full-back position to start there against Ipswich last Monday, while Dennis Praet and Yunus Akgun were brought into the positions for the FA Cup victory over Birmingham. It may be Yunus that gets the nod this time.
With Hamza Choudhury the only player to have completed 180 minutes over the past two games, he is likely to drop out, meaning Ricardo will be needed at full-back. Then it’s a choice between Yunus and Praet, with the Turk potentially getting the nod after his second-half display against Birmingham, and perhaps because of Maresca’s challenge to him.
The manager said Yunus has so far not provided what has been expected of him, and wants to see more showings like his second half on Saturday, during which he scored his first goal for the club. Whichever of the duo start, the other is likely to replace them during Tuesday night’s game, Maresca has hinted. He’s just glad to have them both fit.
“It’s a good thing because we can probably use both (against Swansea),” he said after Yunus and Praet started against Birmingham. “Up until now, because of Dennis’s injury and because of Yunus’s injury, we didn’t have both fit. Now hopefully they can both be fit for the rest of the season.
“We have more choices for the number 10. They are quite similar. They are more technical, they are not physical. As we said, Wilf, Cesare, they are different profiles to Dennis and Yunus. Probably Kiernan, Dennis, and Yunus are more or less the same.”
All of the players rested for Saturday’s game are likely to come back in. And that includes Tom Cannon, even though he now has two strikers for competition.
Patson Daka was the number one man up front before he went away with Zambia to the Africa Cup of Nations, but Cannon has done very well in his absence. It means the 21-year-old should start ahead of Daka and Jamie Vardy.
Predicted City line-up (4-3-3): Hermansen; Ricardo, Faes, Vestergaard, Justin; Winks, Dewsbury-Hall, Yunus; McAteer, Cannon, Mavididi. Subs from: Stolarczyk, Ward, Nelson, Coady, Doyle, Choudhury, Praet, Alves, Albrighton, Marcal, Vardy, Daka.
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