Leicester have lost their last five games in the Premier League without even scoring a goal. There is a risk that the atmosphere at the King Power Stadium turns toxic towards the end of the season with Leicester all but relegated to the Championship and rumblings of discontent in the dressing room which could spell the end of Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s reign come the end of the season.

Newcastle ran out 4-0 winners in the initial meeting between these sides and have won their last three games across all competitions against West Ham, Liverpool and most recently Brentford. Newcastle did well to manage that game following the celebrations of their historic Carabao Cup win and look in a healthy spot to keep this winning run going, taking advantage of the instability currently plaguing the Foxes.

Leicester have only won two games at the King Power Stadium all season, only Southampton and Ipswich have a worse home record in the Premier League than the Foxes this season.

Kristiansen has been one of Leicester’s better performers this season but he is limited on the impact he can have on the game as a left back. Van Nistelrooy has been lining up wingbacks in recent weeks which sees Kristiansen pushed a bit higher up the pitch but his foul record has stayed consistent during this time.

He’s committed 17 fouls across his 27 Premier League appearances this season (0.65 per 90) which isn’t the most standout record but should be set to increase against a Newcastle side that drew 16 fouls from Leicester in the initial meeting between the sides at St James’ Park earlier in the season. 

Kristiansen contested nine duels in that meeting, impressively winning seven of those battles which meant he avoided catching the referees attention but Kristiansen is unlikely to be able to recreate that level of duel success which should see him overstep the mark at least once here. He’ll be up against Tino Livramento who is averaging 1.20 fouls won per 90 in the Premier League this season and was fouled once in the initial encounter.

Leicester committed 16 fouls in the initial meeting between the sides at St James’ Park. The Foxes are averaging 10.6 fouls committed per game in the Premier League this season which sees them ranked 16th for fouls committed in the top flight this term which is a slightly surprising position when comparing to where they sit in the league table.

Leicester are more in line with where you’d expect them to be when looking at their card record this season, only four sides have collected more yellow cards than the Foxes this campaign (68) which suggests that when they do foul the opposition, they tend to be quite heavy hitting challenges or at least enough to tempt the referee to reach for his notebook.

Newcastle have already shown that they can draw an increase in fouls from Leicester as they did in the initial meeting between the sides. We only need the Foxes’ average to rise marginally here which is more than possible when considering that Leicester are likely to lose the midfield battle here with a significant gap in quality between these sides in the middle of the park.

Newcastle had five corners to Leicester’s two in the meeting between these sides at St James’ Park. Eddie Howe’s side are averaging 5.33 corners per game across their 15 away trips in the Premier League this season.

Leicester are conceding 5.60 corners per game at the King Power Stadium this season, only a handful of teams in the Premier League are averaging more corners conceded per home game this campaign. Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s side are only averaging 3.80 corners per game themselves at home this season which suggests that Newcastle will comfortably come out on top in the corner count here when comparing the home and away averages of these two sides.

Joelinton is constantly all action for Newcastle, he’s picked up nine yellow cards across his 25 Premier League appearances this season which is unsurprisingly more than any other player in the Newcastle squad.

Joelinton was shown a yellow card in the initial meeting between these sides at St James’ Park and is averaging 2.23 fouls committed per 90 in the Premier League this season which explains his high card count this campaign. 

Joelinton launches into challenges, occasionally overstepping the mark with his physical nature. This shows no signs of changing here with Joelinton well placed to pick up his tenth booking of the season.

On the other side of the midfield battle, Soumare stands out as a player that could be overrun by Newcastle’s excellent midfield trio here. 

Soumare has collected eight yellow cards across his 23 Premier League appearances this season, more than any other Leicester player this campaign. He’s averaging 1.04 fouls committed per 90 in the Premier League which doesn’t quite line up with his card record this term but this is reflective of a trend we see across the entire Leicester City side.

They’re only averaging 10.6 fouls committed per 90 which is a metric that has them ranked 16th in the Premier League but have collected the fifth most cards in the division (68). This indicates that Leicester’s challenges tend to be quite heavy hitting and the Foxes aren’t given much leeway before the referee reaches for his pocket with the nature of their challenges.

Newcastle had 11 shots on target to Leicester’s one in the initial meeting between the sides at St James’ Park. There is a clear gap in quality between these sides all over the pitch and this should show itself in the final shot on target numbers.

Leicester are averaging 2.9 shots on target per game in the Premier League this season - lower than any other side in the Premier League which highlights how much the Foxes have struggled since Van Nistelrooy’s appointment.

Newcastle are averaging 4.4 shots on target per game in the Premier League this season which is about average for the top flight this campaign but such a clear gap in this metric in the initial meeting suggests that Newcastle won’t have many problems in coming out on top in the shot on target count again.

Mads Hermansen is probably the only reason why Leicester aren’t in the same state as Southampton, the keeper is clearly playing at a level below his potential and is likely to get a move in the summer to stay in the top flight. 

He made four saves in the initial meeting between the sides in the first half alone before he had to be substituted due to injury. He’s averaging 3.87 saves per 90 in the Premier League this season whilst maintaining a save average of 64% which is more than respectable considering that he is playing for a side that have little to no defensive organisation.

 Newcastle had 11 shots on target in the initial meeting between the sides, this unrelenting pressure on the Leicester backline should come to the fore again here.