Leicester City make the trip to the Vitality Stadium on Tuesday evening as they face Bournemouth in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Enzo Maresca‘s side can advance to the quarter-finals of the competition with victory tonight but they are up against Premier League opposition.
With that said it’ll be the ultimate test for The Foxes to see how they perform against a side a division above them and where they aspire to be.
Having suffered back-to-back defeats to Middlesbrough and Leeds United, Leicester must get back on track and tonight’s game could serve as a confidence booster heading into the business end of the campaign.
It’ll be an interesting tactical battle between Maresca and Andoni Iraola tonight. The pair have played against each other in Spain, so it appears they’re quite familiar with one another.
So, how can Leicester defeat their Premier League opponents?
Leicester City must utilise pace in transition v Bournemouth
Cast your minds back to City’s 3-2 win against Birmingham City in December. The Foxes ran riot on the counter-attack and scored two quite brilliant goals on the break.
The devasting pace of Stephy Mavididi, Abdul Fatawu and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall caused The Blues all sorts of problems running back towards their own goal, so perhaps they can utilise that against Bournemouth.
Whilst the aforementioned trio may not feature in tonight’s FA Cup clash, Maresca will still have pace to call upon in the likes of Wanya Marcal and Tom Cannon.
Bournemouth, being the favourites, are expected to have more of the ball and that could benefit Leicester in transition.
Play to Tom Cannon’s strengths
Having signed in a £7.5m deal from Everton last summer, Cannon has had little game time under Maresca.
Though, in the limited minutes he has had, the 22-year-old has shown he is a natural finisher and one who likes to play off the shoulder of the last man.
Take his goal against Millwall in the third round of the FA Cup as an example, Cannon was played in behind by Callum Doyle and expertly rounded the keeper before rolling the ball home.
City must play to his strengths and look for his movement against the South Coasters this evening.
Use Abdul Fatawu as a super sub
Fatawu is City’s second top assister this term with nine, three behind talisman Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, as per BBC Football.
The 19-year-old has heavily impressed since joining the Foxes from Sporting last year and has established himself as a regular in Maresca’s line-up.
With that in mind, it’s unlikely he’ll start against Bournemouth but he could feature as a super sub, particularly if Leicester are in need of a goal.
Fatawu has been a real wildcard for the Championship league leaders and his unpredictable nature could cause Iraola’s side a threat off the bench.