Both
Leicester and Chelsea are set to field strong starting XIs when they meet in
the FA Cup quarter-finals on Sunday.
With a semi-final spot at Wembley up for grabs for the winner, the two
Premier League sides will look to give themselves the best chance of landing
some silverware.
For Chelsea, they will be looking to bounce back after being knocked out of
the Champions League by Barcelona in midweek, and head coach Antonio Conte
says his side will continue to compete in their remaining competitions.
"I think every trophy is important for us. We started the season to try to
fight until the end for every competition," he said.
"In the Carabao Cup we reached the semi-final, in Champions League the last
16. This is the FA Cup quarter-final. If we win, we can play another
semi-final at Wembley. We try to do our best in every competition. This must
be our target.
"Leicester are a good team. In the last game we played at home, we suffered
against them. Then to try to do our best also in the league, to find a place
in the Champions League. It won't be easy."
Leicester manager Claude Puel knows Chelsea will be the favourites heading
into Sunday's clash, but believes his side can make life difficult as they
look to continue in the FA Cup themselves.
"All the players are ready with desire and without pressure because Chelsea
are the favourites. But we can cause them big problems," he said.
"They will have four days to recover. That is enough. They have a lot of
players in a fantastic squad. This is their last chance to win something.
They will have great motivation.
"It is a decisive game. It is in our stadium and a good opportunity to get
to the semi-final."
Team news
Conte is poised to pick his first-choice line-up, having rotated his options
in previous rounds, and could yet choose Willy Caballero in goal after
Thibaut Courtois was twice beaten through the legs by Lionel Messi in
Wednesday's loss at Barcelona.
Defender David Luiz (ankle) and midfielder Ross Barkley (hamstring) are out.
Leicester are expected to have an unchanged squad. Daniel Amartey will not
return from his hamstring injury until after the international break, while
Robert Huth continues to work his way back from the ankle problem that has
blighted his campaign.
Kelechi Iheanacho will hope to play, while Aleksander Dragovic, Christian
Fuchs, Matty James and Marc Albrighton could also come into contention for
recalls.
Opta stats
Leicester and Chelsea have met in five previous seasons in the FA Cup -
Chelsea have progressed in all five ties, most recently in the quarter-final
in 2011/12.
Kelechi Iheanacho is averaging a goal or assist (9 goals, 1 assist) every 55
minutes in the FA Cup in his career, and has scored four goals so far this
campaign.
Olivier Giroud scored one goal and assisted two more on his FA Cup debut for
Chelsea against Hull - since his debut in the competition in January 2013,
the Frenchman has been involved in more FA Cup goals than any other player
(21, 14 goals and 7 assists).
Leicester have been eliminated from their last three FA Cup quarter-final
ties (2000/01, 2004/05 and 2011/12) and haven't reached the semi-final since
the 1981/82 season, beating Shrewsbury in the quarter-final that year.
Merson's prediction
This is a hard game to call but I fancy Chelsea, despite Leicester's heavy
win at struggling West Brom. Chelsea had their moments at Barcelona and
their fans cannot be too disappointed because they had a go, unlike United
the night before. Things could well have been different had they been more
clinical. If Chelsea play anything like they did over the two legs against
Barca, they'll beat Leicester.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-3 (14/1 with Sky Bet)
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