Leicester City lost their third consecutive Championship fixture on the weekend, as they were beaten 2-1 by Queens Park Rangers at King Power Stadium.
Enzo Maresca‘s side were 12 points clear at the summit of the table a couple of weeks ago but now that gap has closed to just three points, as Ipswich Town continue to apply the pressure.
City make the trip to the North East on Tuesday evening to face 10th-placed Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats have also been on a dismal run of form, having lost four successive games. The absence of top scorer and talisman Jack Clarke has been evident.
So, perhaps City have caught Mike Dodds’ side at a good time.
Leicester City predicted XI vs Sunderland
The Foxes will be without Ricardo Pereria – who has captained his side several times this term – on Tuesday, as he is unavailable due to injury.
“Ricardo is injured and he will be out until after the international break,” Maresca confirmed on Friday.
The Italian head coach also noted that Dennis Praet is injured, after being subbed off in the first half on the weekend.
“Dennis is injured again. I was a midfielder. Probably on Tuesday (against Sunderland) I can play half an hour, 45 minutes, because in this moment we have just Harry Winks, Kiernan, and Yunus.”
So with that said, it seems the East Midlanders have a selection dilemma in midfield and may have to use Yunus Akgun centrally.
Mads Hermansen is expected to retain his place in between the sticks, with Hamza Choudhury, Ben Nelson, Wout Faes and Callum Doyle in front of him.
Moving into midfield, we’ll see the ever-presents Harry Winks and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall line up alongside Akgun, who will likely play a more advanced role than the aforementioned pair.
Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu will assume their usual roles on either flank and upfront, we may see Jamie Vardy return to the starting line-up.
The veteran forward has been nursing a muscle injury of late but was back on the bench against QPR and made a 30-minute cameo.
Tom Cannon may also be in with a shout of starting, so might Kelechi Iheanacho, who starred in City’s FA Cup win at Bournemouth last week.
The Nigeria international was a surprise absentee in the squad against QPR but Maresca noted that it was purely due to the number of options he had in the forward line.
“Kele, like all players who are sometimes out of the squad, it’s not easy because they are good players and they deserve it. But we had Jamie on the bench and Tom on the bench, so it’s just for that,” the City boss said.
Leicester (4-3-3): Hermansen; Choudhury, Faes, Nelson, Doyle; Winks, Dewsbury-Hall, Akgun; Fatawu, Vardy, Mavididi.