High-flying Leicester City host Aston Villa at the King Power Stadium on Sunday aiming to extend their morale-boosting start to the new Premier League season.
With two wins and two draws, Claudio Ranieri's men are still unbeaten, but they face an unpredictable Villa side looking for their first win since the opening day.
Leicester City
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By virtue of the fact that Ranieri was in the running to win Manager of the Month for August, it would be safe to assume that Leicester City have enjoyed a strong start to the Premier League season.
Although the veteran Italian was ultimately beaten by Manchester City's Manuel Pellegrini, the nomination is a sign that the Foxes certainly look like kicking on from the great escape that saw them survive relegation under Nigel Pearson last season.
In many ways, Leicester are fortunate to have retained their top-flight status. Under Pearson, City managed to win seven of their last nine games, having been rooted to the bottom of the table and seven points adrift of safety by March 22.
The 52-year-old's relationship with the club's hierarchy broke down during the summer, prompting his dismissal, but Ranieri looks on course to continue building on those foundations in his maiden year at the King Power Stadium.
They kicked off the season with a comfortable 4-2 win at home to Sunderland, netting three first-half goals to go 3-0 up, before bringing West Ham United back to earth at Upton Park in the week after their shock win at Arsenal.
Leicester survived yet another test the following week by holding Tottenham Hotspur to a 1-1 draw at the King Power, with Riyad Mahrez extending his excellent start to the season by netting his fourth goal in three games. They looked poised to suffer their first defeat before the international break, but Jamie Vardy struck an 86th-minute penalty to earn a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.
While it is still early, and little should be read into the fact that Ranieri's men sit third in the table, it has been a hugely encouraging start and they will be favourites to extend the feel-good factor come Sunday.
Recent form: WWDD
Recent form (all competitions): WWDWD
Aston Villa
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Not unlike Leicester, Aston Villa also survived a major brush with relegation last term but Tim Sherwood has struggled to lead the Villans to the same lofty heights as City early in the 2015-16 campaign.
Unlike Ranieri, though, Sherwood has been forced to rebuild his team following a summer in which a number of his influential players left the club.
Shay Given, Ron Vlaar, Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke all played big roles in leading Villa to safety - and then the FA Cup final, where they lost 4-0 to Arsenal - following Paul Lambert's dismissal in February, but that quartet was broken up.
The same factors attributed to Villa's resurgence under Sherwood are long gone and the former Tottenham Hotspur manager is relying on his pre-season recruits to come good and kick on from their close shave in 2014-15.
New striker Rudy Gestede offered some hope that he was a long-term replacement for Benteke by heading the winner as Villa secured a 1-0 win away to newly-promoted Bournemouth on the first day of the season, but a 1-0 home defeat to Manchester United followed.
Two more of Sherwood's summer signings took the spotlight in the subsequent 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace. Ex-Barcelona starlet Adama Traore announced himself to the Premier League with a fine solo run that forced an equalising own goal, but a moment of madness from left-back Jordan Amavi directly led to the Eagles' last-gasp winner.
It was one of Lambert's signings Scott Sinclair who stole the show the following week, scoring twice at home to Sunderland but the Black Cats left with a 2-2 draw. It could yet be another tough season for Aston Villa, a lot of which will depend on how quickly Sherwood's recruits gel into the team - if at all.
Recent form: WLLD
Recent form (all competitions): WLLWD
Team News
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Much of Leicester's stunning early-season form could arguably be attributed to Mahrez, who has netted four times in as many games.
As a result, hearts were in mouths when the Algerian ace picked up an injury on international duty, but the playmaker is expected to shrug it off in time for Villa.
Matty James continues to miss out with a knee injury in what is thought to be Ranieri's only absentee for Sunday so far.
Meanwhile, Idrissa Gana is expected to miss out for the visitors after picking up a hamstring injury on international duty with Senegal.
Elsewhere, Jack Grealish was expected to return following a hamstring problem, but Sherwood revealed that he is now unsure if the starlet - who turned 20 on Thursday - can report for duty.
An ankle injury has sidelined jet-heeled winger Traore, although Sherwood said that Grealish had a better chance of being fit than the ex-Barcelona man.
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; De Laet, Morgan, Huth, Schlupp; Mahrez, Inler, Drinkwater, King, Albrighton; Vardy
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Guzan; Bacuna, Richards, Lescott, Amavi; Sanchez, Westwood, Gil, Sinclair; Gestede, Ayew
Head To Head
The Villans have managed just two victories at Leicester since 1981, the second of which came in a 5-0 thumping in 2004. City won this meeting 1-0 last season in a fiery encounter that spawned two red cards, while Villa won both home games 2-1, with the latter coming in the FA Cup.
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Hit play below to see what the Sports Mole Sofa had to say about this encounter:
We say: Leicester 1-2 Aston Villa
Victory on Sunday could well hinge on which Aston Villa turn up to the King Power, but the two-week international break will have done them the world of good and we reckon that Sherwood and co will end their three-game winless streak and spoil the hosts' unbeaten record in the process.
Shane Callaghan
