Leicester vs Fulham prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-01-02 19:45.
Leicester Cityās Wout Faes may be glad to see the back of 2022 after he ended it by becoming just the fourth player in Premier League (PL) history to score two own goals in the same game as the Foxes went down 2-1 against Liverpool. In fact Leicester themselves may be glad to see the back of 2022 given their decline thatās seen them go from genuine European contenders last season to relegation battlers this campaign.
Boss Brendan Rodgers will certainly hope 2023 will be more prosperous, and he may fancy his side lengthening their cushion to the drop zone having won nine of their last 14 league games to open a calendar year (D4, L1). Successive home league defeats āto nilā coming into this match threatens to worsen that record though, with Leicester now on the verge of losing three top-flight home games in a row without scoring for the first time since 1983.
Goals certainly arenāt a problem for Fulham, who have scored in all but two of their PL games this term, the latest of which was a 2-1 victory against struggling Southampton on Saturday. That result capped off a fine 2022 for Fulham, who have taken well to life back in the PL and come into this clash eight points better off than their hosts after winning four of their last eight league matches (D2, L2).
The fact both those defeats came via stoppage time goals against the Manchester clubs shows just how tricky Fulham are to overcome these days. That perhaps isnāt the case at the start of the year for the Cottagers though, who have won just one of their last 23 PL away games in the month of January (D6, L16), though they did open their 2022 away league campaign with a 7-0 win, albeit in the Championship against Reading.
Players to watch: In a quirk of fate, Leicesterās Harvey Barnes has seen his last five goals make the score 2-0. Fulham could look to Aleksandar MitroviÄ to counteract that, but they may have to wait considering eight of his last nine club goals came after the break.
Hot stat: This game will be referee Darren Bondās first PL game of the season. Heās shown an average of 4.28 yellow cards per match across the other games heās officiated this season.