The wins keep coming, and Leicester City enjoyed their fourth league win of the season last weekend as they beat off Rotherham United in a well-fought victory at the New York Stadium.
Despite an unsettling start, with Rotherham having a goal ruled out, Kasey Mcateer met Kelechi Iheanacho’s pin-point cross at the back-post to head in. Fred Onyedinma equalised for the home side early on in the second half but yet another late goal won it for the Foxes. Late goals are becoming a recurring theme for the blues, with Enzo Maresca enjoying exploiting teams late on. Talking to Foxes Hub, he said “Since we started, I said with the way we play, because we play a lot, the opponent will run.” the Italian said. “In the last minutes of the second half, we’ll find more chances, more spaces. It’s a journey, a process. It’s not easy, but I can see day after day that they are working well and that they understand what I want.”
With a midweek Carabao Cup win against Tranmere to further boost confidence, now let’s look ahead to City’s next league game as Maresca’s men welcome Hull City to the King Power on Saturday. Can they make it 5 from 5 in the Championship?
Another weekend, another win
Is winning becoming a familiar feeling for Leicester fans? Having 4 consecutive league wins to start the season is something they have never done before. To add on to that, they’ve never won their first 5, let alone 6, games in all competitions. It’s safe to say that life under Maresca has been exciting so far, with the Foxes currently sitting pretty at the top of the table. Only 2 teams of the 92 have won all of their league games so far, can you guess who they are? Manchester City and Leicester City. The style of play that Pep Guardiola educated Enzo Maresca with has clearly been working for the pair of them.
It couldn’t really be anymore perfect for Leicester and they’ll hope to maintain this momentum. Although the wins may not have been the most convincing and you could argue we haven’t had a ‘hard’ fixture yet, the team seems to be working hard and they look hungry to get the three points. There’s been a noticeable shift in the style of football as well since the appointment of Maresca, something the players have been able to get behind and showcase. Grinding out for points hasn’t been something Leicester fans have seen for a while, with last season almost having the feeling of ‘giving up’ whenever we went behind.
The start to the season has been promising with this new-look Leicester side. With 7 signings and arguably one of our best transfer windows. Enzo Maresca has got the fans back on board and that feel-good factor seems to be back with the Leicester faithful.
McAteer the right winger we never had
After years of disappointment and false hope for Foxes fans, Kasey McAteer could be the right winger that we needed all along. Since the departure of Riyad Mahrez, we’ve never seemed to find a replacement for him. We’ve gone through the likes of Rachid Ghezzal, Cengiz Under, Ademola Lookman, Fousseni Diabate, Tete to name a few. None of them could fulfil that right wing role. Now he may be no Riyad Mahrez, but a brace to win the game from McAteer shows he’s one to keep an eye on though.
Maresca also has the option of Wanya Marcal-Madivadua, someone who has also impressed playing on that right flank. He was dropped from the squad against Rotherham however with Maresca saying “The reason why (Marcal-Madivadua was dropped) is a technical decision. The young players need to learn. We’ll see next weekend”, almost implying that the Italian may have not been impressed with his attitude. He’ll struggle to find his way back into the starting lineup after McAteer’s performance, so we could see the youngster make consecutive league starts for the first time on the weekend.
The new arrival of Yunus Akgun on loan from Galatasaray is also one for Foxes fans to look out for, with Maresca now having the luxury of having four right wingers in his squad. Don’t forget that Marc Albrighton can also do a shift there! With a tough Championship season still ahead, the depth of the squad will be key.
How could we see us line-up against Hull?
Ahead of the game against Hull, Maresca may be tempted to stick to the same side that beat Rotherham, however outgoings, injuries and rotation could affect this. As the saying goes though, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, so the Italian will probably be looking to keep the same core of the starting team. Here’s how we could see the Foxes line up against the Tigers.
Mads Hermansen is expected to keep his place between the sticks, securing consecutive league starts after his return from a minor injury. We can expect to see a four man defence in front of the Dane, consisting of Ricardo Pereira, Wout Faes, Jannick Vestegaard and Callum Doyle. The unchanged defence has conceded 3 goals this season, and look to be Maresca’s favoured back line. At least until we’re able to welcome Conor Coady back into the mix.
In the middle of the park, we could see Harry Winks alongside Cesare Casadei and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. This is the first change to the predicted starting lineup from Rotherham, with Casadei coming in for Ndidi. Rumours have emerged this week that Wilfred Ndidi could be on his way up the road to Nottingham Forest, something Foxes fans wouldn’t have wanted to hear! So despite a goal midweek versus Tranmere, we’d look to swap Ndidi out this weekend. Casadei can come in nicely to the team however, impressing in both of his cameo appearances and even grabbing a winner against Cardiff City.
Kasey McAteer is likely to keep his place in the side, but Maresca now has the option of Yunus Akgun, the new Turkish international signing. Kelechi Iheanacho looks to keep his spot playing as the number nine, whilst Stephy Mavididi is expected to take his place on the left wing.
How do you see the team lining-up against Hull? Let us know @coolasleicester.
Words by Tom C.
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