Leicester vs Sunderland prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-10-23 19:00.
Leicester City continued their brilliant start to the 2023/24 Championship season (W11, L1) by coming from behind at Swansea on Saturday to pick up a seventh consecutive win with a 3-1 victory. Targeting an immediate return to the Premier League, the Foxes come into this midweek round five points clear at the summit of the table, more importantly with an 11-point cushion to third placed Leeds United.
That’s partly due to the fact Enzo Maresca’s side haven’t conceded in any of their last three home matches, and leaked only three goals from six league encounters at the King Power Stadium this season. At the other end of the pitch, Leicester are the top scoring side in the division with 26 goals and their all or nothing approach means they are the only team in the Championship to have not drawn a game this season.
Sunderland have shared the points in only one Championship match so far this campaign and begin this round in the final play-off position (sixth), precisely where they finished last season. But they’re on the slide after losing three of their last five games (W2), falling 4-0 at home to Middlesbrough before the international break, and then returning with a 2-1 defeat away to an out-of-form Stoke City at the weekend.
Manager Tony Mowbray lamented the fact that his side conceded seven minutes into the first half and only two minutes into the second at the Bet365 stadium, declaring his team needed to “start better in both halves” in his post-match interview. Despite that, their away form has still been impressive, as prior to that Stoke defeat, Sunderland had collected three consecutive Championship wins by scoring three goals on each occasion, which Mowbray ought to remind his players ahead of the visit to Leicester.
Players to watch: Leicester’s Kelechi Iheanacho has scored in each of his last four league games with three of those goals coming beyond the 75th minute. Jack Clarke is the top scorer in the division with eight goals from 12 games, all but one of which were recorded away from home. In contrast with Iheanacho, he found the net in the first half of each of Sunderland’s last four away fixtures.
Hot stat: All but one of Leicester’s seven consecutive Championship victories were accompanied by a 2+ goal winning margin.