Manchester City vs Leicester City

Etihad Stadium sets the stage for a high-stakes Premier League showdown between top-four hopefuls Manchester City and relegation-threatened Leicester City. 

With nine games to go, Manchester City’s pursuit of a top-four finish hangs in the balance after winning just one of their last four league matches (D1, L2). Pep Guardiola’s charges received an ultimate confidence boost ahead of this clash, overturning a halftime deficit to beat Bournemouth 2-1 in their FA Cup quarter-final tie last weekend to keep their dream of avoiding a trophyless season alive. The Citizens have been particularly wasteful at home, where they risk going three consecutive PL matches without a win (D1, L1) for the first time since December 2023. However, the arrival of a struggling Leicester side could provide relief, as they have dominated recent encounters at the Etihad (W8, L2), with those fixtures averaging 4.6 goals per game!

Meanwhile, Leicester City succumbed to a dreadful 3-0 home defeat to Manchester United on the stroke of the international break, spending the pause a massive nine points adrift of safety. More importantly, that result marked their sixth consecutive Premier League loss ‘to nil.’ As a result, they’re on the brink of becoming the fourth side in league history to lose seven successive games without a reply, making Ruud van Nistelrooy among the leading candidates to become the next EPL manager to lose their job. This clash doesn’t bode well for the Foxes’ effort to find a way out of this crisis, considering a 2-0 defeat in December’s reverse fixture, extending their losing H2H run to six matches – four of which saw them fail to get on the scoresheet.