Facundo Buonanotte’s potential return to the Leicester City starting line-up is at the heart of one of the big decisions Steve Cooper faces as he picks his team to take on Crystal Palace.
After starting the first two games, the Argentinian attacking midfielder was dropped to the bench against Aston Villa, in part because of a groin issue. But he came on as a substitute and scored his first goal for City in an influential cameo.
Now Cooper must decide if the teenager is included in his starting 11 at Selhurst Park on Saturday (3pm kick-off). It’s one of a handful of calls he has to make.
Given City were a much greater threat against Villa after his introduction, Buonanotte will be the favourite to start in attacking midfield on Saturday. It helps too that he was not called up by Argentina, and so has had a full fortnight to work at Seagrave.
That likely puts him ahead of Bilal El Khannouss in the pecking order. The £20m signing was away with Morocco, and has barely trained with his new team-mates since joining the club from Genk.
Wilfred Ndidi started in the advanced role against Villa but struggled, as City did as a whole in attack, at least until the substitutes came on. Against a fellow winless side, Cooper may feel he should opt for a more attacking player behind Jamie Vardy.
If Buonanotte starts, then Cooper must decide who is dropped to the bench. Then Ndidi could drop back to play alongside Harry Winks in the deeper midfield positions, as he did against Tottenham and Fulham.
However, Oli Skipp made an impression on his first Premier League start for the club, quickly getting onto the same wavelength as Winks and helping City retain the ball with more composure. With City needing to get the ball into attack more often, a better control of possession deeper in the pitch should help.
Fight to start at centre-back
Caleb Okoli made his Premier League debut last time out, with Jannik Vestergaard left on the bench. It was the first time since before the start of last season that the Dane had been available for a league game but not been selected.
Cooper said his decision was to deal with the different threats posed by Villa, perhaps wanting a quicker defender to keep tabs on Ollie Watkins. With Eddie Nketiah potentially coming in for his Crystal Palace start, Okoli could be picked again.
Ricardo and Mavididi’s wait goes on
There are not likely to be changes elsewhere in the side, and so the players that fans want to see – namely Ricardo Pereira and Stephy Mavididi – will have to wait. James Justin and Victor Kristiansen are expected to continue at full-back, while Jordan Ayew is likely to get the nod on the left wing against his former club.
Predicted City line-up (4-2-3-1): Hermansen; Justin, Faes, Okoli, Kristiansen; Winks, Skipp; Fatawu, Buonanotte, Ayew; Vardy. Subs from: Ward, Iversen, Ricardo, Thomas, Coady, Vestergaard, Choudhury, Soumare, Ndidi, Alves, El Khannouss, McAteer, De Cordova-Reid, Mavididi.
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