*Editor’s note: Thursday’s match between Leicester City and Tottenham has been postponed due to COVID-19 issues connected to the host side. Stay tuned for more details.
Leicester City can confirm that the Premier League Board has decided to postpone Thursday night’s fixture against Tottenham Hotspur.
— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 16, 2021
Leicester City vs. Spurs Odds
| Leicester City Odds | +135 |
| Spurs Odds | +195 |
| Draw | +260 |
| Over/Under | 2.5 (-125 / +105) |
| Day | Time | Thursday | 2:30 p.m. ET |
| How To Watch | Peacock Premium |
| Odds via DraftKings. Get up-to-the-minute soccer odds here. | |
Leicester City welcomes Tottenham to King Power Stadium on Thursday for their Premier League match, which will be a meeting between clubs featuring one side that has been impacted by the recent COVID-19 outbreak.
Tottenham has had its last two games postponed, but with the players returning to training over the weekend, things look to be on track to avoid a third consecutive missed game.
Meanwhile, the Foxes were able to avoid postponements and picked up a dominant victory in the process over Newcastle United this past weekend.
This fixture has produced 42 goals over the last 14 meetings in the league between these sides, but all eyes will be on the team news as to whether that could happen again.
Leicester City Still Searching for Consistency
Unfortunately for Leicester, Newcastle isn’t the opponent every week in league play. And depending on who's available for Spurs, this will be a big step up in class.
The Foxes won’t enter the game on the greatest run of form, posting a -1.5 expected goals difference over the last five league games. That even includes a game where they won the xG battle against the Magpies by a +1.9 margin.
The issues haven’t been on offense for manager Brendan Rodgers’ side, where it ranks fourth in the league in non-penalty expected goals (23.4) and goals scored (27), plus it's tied with Liverpool for the best goals per shot ratio at 0.14 this season.
Veteran striker Jamie Vardy is having another great campaign, leading the team with nine goals.
The defensive metrics tell another story for Leicester, though, as they sit in the bottom half of the English top flight in non-penalty xG allowed (23.2) and shots allowed per 90 minutes (15.25) this season.
Starting Lineup Questions Surrounding Spurs
Unlike Leicester where we have multiple games of lineups to know who is available, the starting XI for Tottenham could be a complete toss-up. Make sure you pay attention to any pregame coverage or the presser from manager Antonio Conte to see if we get any information.
If Spurs is able to field a strong team, it has seen solid improvement in a short period of time under Conte, going undefeated in four EPL games via three wins and a draw. The advanced stats have also been impressive over that span, with the club owning a +3.4 xGDiff on 1.73 xG/game since he took the reins.
The xG number is also a big improvement from the 1.02 xG per match the team had in the 10 games before Conte’s arrival.
Betting Analysis & Pick
Oddsmakers at DraftKings is expecting a Leicester victory, with the home team entering the game as the +135 odds three-way moneyline favorite to go with a total of 2.5 goals.
Depending on the team news, this number is way too big on the Foxes in my opinion. For that reason, my best bet is to back Spurs on the Asian Handicap spread of +0.25 at -125 odds..
Since the Oct. 24 win over Brentford, the only squads Leicester has beaten in its 11 fixtures in all competitions were Newcastle, Watford and Legia Warsaw.
Rodgers’ team has only secured wins over two other sides currently in the top half of the table: Wolves on the first game of the season and Manchester United before its manager switch.
Tottenham will also be coming into this fixture on close to two weeks rest, while Leicester had a difficult trip to Italy in the Europa League and the Newcastle game during that span.
If you don’t want to lay -120, I think there’s also value on Spurs in the Draw No Bet market at ripe +115 odds.
Conte is an experienced manager with a squad full of players who have played together a few years now, and I think that mixture is good enough to pick up a positive result against a slumping side.
Pick: Spurs +0.25 (-120)
