Leicester City return to Premier League action against Aston Villa at 3pm on Saturday, January 4th.
The Foxes head into the game on the back of a very poor run of results that sees them winless in four.
Leicester City did look ok against Manchester City but the fact remains they’ve now conceded 12 in their last four and failed to pick up a single point.
The Midlands outfit kick off on Saturday sat 19th in the Premier League with the joint-worst defence in the top tier.
Aston Villa are predicted to beat Leicester by two well-known pundits, both of whom didn’t back the latter to score a single goal in the clash.
Unai Emery’s side haven’t been as consistent as they were in 2024/25 but still remain ninth in the division and chasing European football.
With no fresh faces arriving at the King Power Stadium so far this month, Ruud van Nistelrooy will have to look toward his current options to turn things around.
Ruud van Nistelrooy must consider dropping Conor Coady vs Aston Villa
Before the Dutchaman’s arrival, Caleb Okoli and Wout Faes were Steve Cooper’s primary centre-back pairing.
That instantly changed under Van Nistelrooy, however, with Conor Coady and Jannik Vestergaard coming in as their replacements.
However, the defensive frailties in the Midlands have remained and Coady hasn’t been great in his last six starts for the club.
The Englishman had 86 touches against Manchester City but was the joint-lowest rated player in the Leicester starting eleven, as per Sofascore.
He didn’t win a single duel or tackle either and was taken off after 85 minutes for Okoli.
So, when the team news comes out at 2pm today, Ruud must consider dropping Coady, even if his absence may shock Leicester fans.
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Wout Faes could return for Leicester City vs Aston Villa
Faes has come in for, and rightly so, some heavy criticism during the first half of 2024/25.
The Belgian has been injured for the last few game weeks but speaking in his press conference earlier this week, Van Nistelrooy provided an update on Faes.
When doing so, the Dutchman hinted the stopper, along with Jordan Ayew, could come back into the team.
He said: “We’re looking to have Jordan Ayew back after suspension. Wout Faes has been in training individually so far but he will be part of team training from today onwards, so we’ll see how he continues his progress. These two will come into the team hopefully.”