Steve Cooper knows he simply has to get his first Premier League win as Leicester City manager against Bournemouth this weekend.
Leicester City are on three points after six Premier League games and the fact an international break follows the home match against Bournemouth means anything other than a win could see the pressure ramp up for Steve Cooper.
Most Leicester fans remain unconvinced Cooper is the right man to guide them to Premier League survival and a draw at home against Everton before a 0-0 Carabao Cup draw with Walsall only fuelled this further.
Leicester showed real grit as they battled back from 2-0 down to 2-2 away at Arsenal before they were left heartbroken by two goals in second-half stoppage time to come away from North London with nothing.
Now, the game against Bournemouth starts a run of four winnable games and Cooper knows it is a must win for his side.
Leicester City team news ahead of Bournemouth clash
The good news for Cooper is he has almost a fully fit squad to choose from as he devises a plan to try and beat the Cherries.
Jakub Stolarczyk and Patson Daka remain sidelined with their respective injures with neither player having featured this season.
Stolarczyk would be unlikely to be involved regardless given he is probably the fourth-choice goalkeeper under Cooper, but Daka could well be a firm fixture in Cooper’s plans once he eventually returns from his ankle surgery.
Cooper did revel in his pre-Bournemouth press conference that midfielder Hamza Choudhury dislocated his shoulder in training win Wednesday and now looks set for a spell on the sidelines in what is a real blow.
The prognosis for the injury is unknown as the club need to wait for the swelling down to scan the shoulder but he will certainly miss Bournemouth and likely a number of other games.
Jannik Vestergaard is back in training, but it is unclear whether he will be involved as he appears to have fallen out of favour under Cooper.
Leicester City predicted lineup vs Bournemouth
Once the disappointment of the late defeat to Arsenal eased, Cooper would have been left feeling proud of his Leicester players.
It will be a different kind of game against Bournemouth but Cooper is unlikely to deviate too far from the starting XI he sent out at the Emirates.
Mads Hermansen put in a quite remarkable performance in the Leicester goal despite conceding four at Arsenal and will continue between the sticks.
James Justin scored a surprise brace against the Gunners and will start at right-back in a settled back four that also includes Wout Faes, Caleb Okoli and Victor Kristiansen.
Midfield is the area where Cooper has decisions to make.
Against Arsenal, Cooper played a very defensive trio of Oliver Skipp, Harry Winks and Wilfred Ndidi but he may feel he needs to play a midfield who will take the initiative against Bournemouth.
This could see Facundo Buonanotte move to the attacking midfielder role from the right, but equally it would not be a surprise to see Cooper continue with the workmanlike trio from last weekend.
Cooper has been reluctant to play Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi in the same side and, as Mavididi is the man in form, Fatawu may have to again settle for a spot on the bench.
Edouard has done little to show he should displace Jamie Vardy from the team since his Deadline Day arrival and Cooper will continue to place his faith in Vardy against the Cherries.
With that in mind, here is the unchanged side we predict Cooper will send out to face Bournemouth at the King Power on Saturday.
Leicester City (4-2-3-1): Hermansen; Justin, Faes, Okoli, Kristiansen; Winks, Skipp; Buonanotte, Ndidi, Mavididi; Vardy
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