Leicester v Chelsea predictions: Tuchel's Blues poised to bounce back

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Leicester v Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 12.30pm Saturday

Best bet

Chelsea -0.75 on Asian handicap
2pts 26-25 bet365

Team news

Leicester
Youri Tielemans is injured. He joins James Justin and Wesley Fofana on the sidelines.

Chelsea
Mateo Kovacic and Romelu Lukaku are out. Thiago Silva is a doubt having travelled back from Brazil, but Mason Mount and Timo Werner are available.

Match preview

There's a sense that Thomas Tuchel's well-oiled machine is serenely going through the gears and Chelsea can stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League by winning at the King Power Stadium.

The Blues' last trip to Leicester ended in defeat in January in what turned out to be Frank Lampard's final top-flight assignment in charge.

Since then, of course, they've hardly put a foot wrong under Tuchel, being crowned kings of Europe and taking a grip on the league title race. They could open up a six-point gap on Saturday afternoon, for a few hours at least.

The international break has given Tuchel time to mull over the 1-1 draw against Burnley, just the third league game that the German's side have failed to win this season. The other two were against Liverpool and Manchester City.

The fact is they are generally too strong, too organised, too overpowering for most opponents and it was perhaps less of a surprise therefore that Burnley, who can take on anyone in a street fight, stood firm. That said, Tuchel said 99 times out of 100 they would have won that game and he was right given they bossed the shot count 25-5 and had more than twice as much possession.

But it's results like that which can ruin coupons and might make punters wary about getting involved with Chelsea at odds-on at Leicester who should, on the evidence of recent seasons, be top-six contenders. Indeed, they are only two points off sixth at the moment despite not playing that well.

But while this isn't a mismatch, Chelsea look far better than a porous Foxes outfit who haven't kept a clean sheet since the opening weekend, are without a win in four in all competitions and must do battle without influential talisman Youri Tielemans, who misses a game for the first time in almost two years.

His absence is a major blow for Brendan Rodgers, who now has a formation conundrum to solve plus a personnel issue to address.

Of the three 90-minute options, Chelsea still look the shout. They've played 14 away league games since that loss under Lampard at Leicester, losing only once and conceding just seven goals. Five road trips this term have yielded four wins to nil and a 1-1 draw at Liverpool.

Backing Chelsea to score first – they've done so in each of their last eight – also merits consideration but the visitors -0.75 on the Asian handicap is preferred at odds-against. They would need to win by two for a full payday but even a one-goal success would mean a half-stake win on the 0.5-goal spread and a half-stake refund.

Key stat

Leicester have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last ten matches.

Inside info

Leicester

Penalty taker Jamie Vardy
Free-kick wizard James Maddison
Set-piece aerial threat Caglar Soyuncu
Card magnet Wilfred Ndidi

Chelsea

Penalty taker Jorginho
Free-kick wizard Mason Mount
Set-piece aerial threat Antonio Rudiger
Card magnet Antonio Rudiger

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