A place in the top four of the Premier League table is up for grabs when Tottenham Hotspur travel to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester City on Saturday afternoon.
Brendan Rodgers's men thumped Aston Villa 4-2 in their most recent match, while the Lilywhites dented Manchester City's title chances with a 1-0 win in North London.
Match preview
© Reuters
No fewer than three Leicester City new boys made their Premier League debuts during the Foxes' battle with Aston Villa, and while one of them in Harry Souttar scored an unfortunate own goal, their other two January signings made telling contributions in a thrilling win.
While left-back Victor Kristiansen winning all eight of his duels before celebrating with his family, Tete scored Leicester's third goal of the contest following strikes from Kelechi Iheanacho and James Maddison, and Dennis Praet put the cherry on top late on.
With two wins and a draw to boast from their last three contests in all tournaments, things are suddenly looking up for Rodgers and co, whose newfound taste for goals has propelled them up to 14th in the table and three points clear of the relegation zone.
There is certainly still some work to do for Leicester to put their demotion fears to bed once and for all, but Rodgers's side are undoubtedly heading in the right direction - six goals in two top-flight fixtures with Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion is evidence of that.
However, Leicester have taken just one point from their last 12 on offer at the King Power Stadium - failing to score in three before putting two past Brighton - but Spurs' well-drilled defence will fear no attack after keeping the Premier League champions at bay.
© Reuters
The late, great Jimmy Greaves is no longer around to see his long-standing Tottenham goalscoring record be broken, but his family affirmed that the Lilywhites' second-highest scorer of all time would have been delighted to see his tally of 266 strikes surpassed by Harry Kane.
Clearly not learning their lessons from January's match at the Etihad Stadium, Man City - who did manage to win that game 4-2 - were punished for errors at the back at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg intercepted a pass and set up Kane for his 267th Spurs goal on the 15-minute mark, and City could not respond in a match that delighted Arsenal fans as much as it did their bitter rivals.
Led by Cristian Stellini as Antonio Conte recovered from gallbladder surgery in his native Italy, Tottenham put on a defensive display that would have left the latter beaming with pride, and he is now back at Hotspur Way and expected to return to the dugout at the King Power Stadium.
Three points for the fifth-placed Lilywhites will see them break into the Champions League places above Newcastle United - who are involved in Saturday's evening kickoff at Bournemouth - and Conte returns to a Tottenham side who have three successive wins and three successive clean sheets to boast in all tournaments.
Scoring 12 goals in their last five Premier League away games is also a recipe for success for Tottenham, who thumped Leicester 6-2 in North London five months ago thanks to a 13-minute Son Heung-min hat-trick, while forgotten man Steven Bergwijn was the last-minute hero in a dramatic 3-2 win at the King Power last term.
Team News
© Reuters
The Leicester treatment room is slowly emptying out, and Rodgers may be able to welcome the duo of Ricardo Pereira and Jonny Evans back to the squad here, but Boubakary Soumare is lacking match fitness and unlikely to be involved.
Wilfred Ndidi missed the win over Villa due to a personal issue and should return for the weekend, but full-backs Ryan Bertrand and James Justin are still out for the long-term, benefitting Kristiansen's chances of back-to-back starts over Luke Thomas.
Having repaid Rodgers's faith in him with a goal and two assists at Villa Park, Iheanacho can feel confident of holding his place up front ahead of Patson Daka and Jamie Vardy, whose powers have waned this season.
While Conte's return is a significant boost for Tottenham, the Italian comes back to the bad news that first-choice goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is facing six to eight weeks on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury in the win over Man City.
Amid reports claiming that Tottenham could try to coax Ben Foster out of retirement, Fraser Forster will start in goal for the time being, and it remains to be seen if Pape Sarr (hip) and Lucas Moura (tendon) can play a part in this one. Yves Bissouma is also facing a lengthy period out after undergoing surgery on an ankle stress fracture, but he was unlikely to start here.
Conte will be forced into more than one defensive alteration here, as Cristian Romero is suspended following his red card for two bookable offences against Man City, so Clement Lenglet or Davinson Sanchez will deputise in the backline at the King Power.
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Ward; Castagne, Souttar, Faes, Kristiansen; Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall; Tete, Maddison, Barnes; Iheanacho
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Forster; Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son
We say: Leicester City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
With Spurs missing their captain and one of their most influential centre-backs, their chances of a fourth successive clean sheet seem slim against a Leicester side possessing the midas touch.
Games between Leicester and Tottenham do not tend to be dull affairs, especially with Kane scoring more goals against the Foxes than any other opponent in his career so far, and we expect the visitors' wealth of attacking options to come good against a leaky Leicester backline and send Conte's men into the top four.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
