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Spotlight on... Leicester

Fri 20 September 2019, 15:00|Tottenham Hotspur

After kicking off our Champions League campaign on Wednesday with a 2-2 draw against Olympiacos in Greece, we return to Premier League action this Saturday as we make the trip to Leicester (12.30pm kick-off).

Last season we completed the double over the Foxes as we sealed a 2-0 triumph at the King Power in December before a 3-1 victory at Wembley in February.

So ahead our trip to the East Midlands, we put Leicester under the spotlight...

Team news

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers has no fresh injury concerns ahead of this Saturday's meeting with his only prior doubt, defender Ben Chilwell, expected to be available for selection.

Leicester’s form

Five games into the new season and Leicester are flying high. Sitting fifth in the table and level on points with us going into Saturday’s game, Brendan Rodgers' side had a steady start to the campaign with back-to-back draws against Wolves (0-0) and Chelsea (1-1) before earning consecutive victories against Sheffield United (2-1) and Bournemouth (3-1). Their unbeaten run, however, was ended last time out as Manchester United leapfrogged them in the table with a 1-0 triumph at Old Trafford.

New faces

Leicester bolstered their squad over the summer with four additions. After an encouraging six-month loan spell with the club last season, Youri Tielemans completed a permanent move to the East Midlands from Monaco in July. He was joined by fellow Belgian international Dennis Praet who signed on a five-year deal from Sampdoria while Spanish forward Ayoze Perez joined from Newcastle United. The Foxes also added young full-back James Justin to their squad from Luton.

Leader of the opposition

Brendan Rodgers returned to the Premier League last season, replacing Claude Puel at the King Power in what is now his third job to date in the division.

Beginning his coaching career in the youth system at Chelsea, Rodgers' first senior managerial roles came in brief stints at Watford and Reading before he had his first notable success as a manager when he was appointed at Swansea City in 2010. In his first season in charge of the Swans he made history as he led them to the Premier League - the first Welsh side to play in the reformed division.

After a steady first year with the Swans in the Premier League, he moved to Liverpool before being offered the top job at Celtic in 2016. In Scotland, he guided the Celts to an unprecedented double-treble (back-to-back clean sweeps of the Scottish Premier League, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup) and was on his way to making it a treble-treble before he was approached to take over at the Foxes in February – the Bhoys went on to complete the treble-treble under Neil Lennon.

Last-five meetings

10 February 2019 – Spurs 3-1 Leicester – Premier League
8 December 2018 – Leicester 0-2 Spurs – Premier League
13 May 2018 – Spurs 5-4 Leicester – Premier League
28 November 2017 – Leicester 2-1 Spurs – Premier League
18 May 2017 – Leicester 1-6 Spurs – Premier League

The numbers game

1 – Leicester have won just one of their six games against us at the King Power Stadium (D1 L4).

4 – We have won four of our last five Premier League games against Leicester including each of the last three in a row. We have never won four consecutive top-flight matches against the Foxes.

40 – Since Leicester returned to the Premier League in 2014/15, our Premier League games against the Foxes have seen a total of 40 goals scored – only Arsenal v Liverpool (48) has seen more in that time.

13 – Harry Kane has 13 goals in his 12 games against Leicester in all competitions, more than against any other side in his career to date.

250 – This will be Mauricio Pochettino's 250^th game as a manager in the Premier League.

Played for both

One of the greatest goalscorers the game has seen and third in England’s all-time international list, Gary Lineker was an instinctive forward, a great reader of the game and had the finishing and movement to be the 'complete package' as a striker.

Coming through the youth system at his hometown club Leicester, he played over 200 games for the Foxes and scored over a century of goals for them.

Also turning out for Everton and Barcelona, Gary became a Spur in 1989 where his goalscoring touch continued. He hit the target 80 times in 138 games during his three-year spell at White Hart Lane, including two in our 3-1 FA Cup semi-final triumph over Arsenal on our route to lifting the famous old trophy in 1991.

Before hanging up his boots in 1994 and moving into the world of TV for the BBC’s Match of the Day and BT Sport, he spent two years with J-League side Grampus Eight.

Quiz

Who scored the opener in our 3-1 Premier League home win over Leicester in February?

Fernando Llorente
Heung-Min Son
Davinson Sanchez

How many players in our current squad scored their first Premier League goal against Leicester?

In our 1999 League Cup triumph over Leicester at Wembley, Allan Nielsen scored the winner in the 1-0 victory but who provided the assist?

Steffen Iversen
David Ginola
Darren Anderton

Paul Konchesky had spells with both us and Leicester during his playing career, but for which of the following Essex-based non-league sides did he most recently appear?