Talking Tactics | Leicester City v Swansea City
Swansea City will make the trip to league-leaders Leicester this evening (7:45pm KO) in the Sky Bet Championship.
Ahead of the clash, WhoScored.com take a preview the fixture, looking at what to expect from the Foxes, a key battle and a key stat.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM LEICESTER CITY
Enzo Maresca and Leicester are perching at the summit of the Sky Bet Championship with a seven point cushion between them and second-place Ipswich Town.
Leicester have been very strong since their relegation to the Championship and have led the league for almost the entire duration of the season so far.
Maresca’s side have lost just twice at home in the league this season and have been beaten just once in their last fourteen games in all competitions.
Leicester have a tendency to control games, demonstrated by their possession average (64 per cent) - a total that only Southampton can better (66.4 per cent).
The hosts also boast the second highest pass success rate in the league with 88.9 per cent, again only second to Southampton’s 90 per cent.
Maresca has found a winning formula with a 4-3-3 formation, which he’s opted for in 22 of the 28 games played in the league this season.
Mads Hermansen has played every single minute of Championship action for Leicester so far, and is the only player to do so. Harry Winks and Jannik Vestergaard fall short by a few mins each and have both been mainstays for Leicester.
A KEY BATTLE
A lot of Leicester’s success so far this campaign has come, one way or another, from their stand-out performer, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
The 25-year-old - who missed the FA Cup match against Birmingham City, but who the manager says he is back in contention for this evening's clash - is the Foxes joint-top scorer, alongside Stephy Mavididi, with nine goals to his name. He has also provided nine assists.
Dewsbury-Hall is Leicester’s highest rated player, according to WhoScored.com, with a rating of 7.52 and only Crysencio Summerville (11) and Jack Clarke (8) have won more Player of the Match awards than his seven.
Likely to be tasked with keeping Dewsbury-Hall under wraps is the Swans' skipper Matt Grimes, who has featured in all of this season’s Championship fixtures.
The 28-year-old has been fundamental at both ends, having already scored twice and made more tackles than any other Swansea midfielder (38).
Grimes has made more key passes (36) than any of his colleagues and has provided four assists so far this term.
The midfielder is Swansea’s second highest rated player (6.84) with only Harry Darling (6.92) rated higher in the league this season.
A KEY STAT
Leicester have found a lot of joy attacking through the middle, in fact, they have the highest percentage of attacks through the middle in the league with 30 per cent.
Swansea prefer to attack down the flanks with 38 per cent of their attacks coming down the left side and 39% from the right.