Steve Cooper’s Leicester City team selection has generated debate every week, but there is even greater focus on his line-up for this Friday’s tantalising clash with Nottingham Forest (8pm kick-off).
Abdul Fatawu’s game-changing appearance as a substitute in the win at Southampton has put the Ghanaian winger in the spotlight, with Gary Lineker questioning why he’s not in the starting line-up. While the 20-year-old has featured in every Premier League game, he’s not started since August.
Calls for Cooper to name the side that finished the 3-2 victory on the south coast are likely to fall on deaf ears. That team, with Fatawu as an advanced right-back, was bold in its inclusion of a host of attacking players, and needed to be with City trailing 2-0.
If Fatawu is to come into the side, it will be for one of the three players who operated behind Jamie Vardy. Bilal El Khannouss is the obvious choice to drop out, but a trio of Fatawu, Facundo Buonanotte and Stephy Mavididi has not yet been fielded by Cooper as it would not sit well in his system, where one of the wingers needs to invert as a second number 10 when City are on the ball.
And so Fatawu’s inclusion would likely lead to Mavididi falling out of the 11. Then Jordan Ayew would be the favourite to start on the left wing, so that he can join Buonanotte centrally when City are on the ball, with Victor Kristiansen rampaging forward from left-back.
The other big call for Cooper is in central midfield. Having dropped Harry Winks against Bournemouth before the international break, and having chosen to stick with Wilfred Ndidi and Oli Skipp in the 11 against Southampton, Winks came on as a second-half substitute on the south coast and made a significant difference.
Winks’ display is deserving of a return to the 11, but he does perform better in matches where City have more of the ball, with Ndidi and Winks perhaps more effective in games where they spend more time out of possession. That will be at the heart of Cooper’s choice there.
There are not likely to be any changes beyond that. The back four is set to remain the same, while Jamie Vardy will captain the team up front.
Predicted City XI (4-2-3-1): Hermansen; Justin, Faes, Okoli, Kristiansen; Ndidi, Winks; Fatawu, Buonanotte, Ayew; Vardy. Subs from: Ward, Iversen, Ricardo, Thomas, Coady, Soumare, Skipp, El Khannouss, Alves, De Cordova-Reid, Mavididi, McAteer, Edouard.
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