good morning!
There was a lot of football this weekend – American, English and otherwise – but do any of those matchups stack up against today’s game?
I’m talking about Leicester City – Ipswich Town, a battle at the top of the table in the EFL Championship.
I’ll dive deeper into the permutations on this match in next week’s roundup, but it will be one of two major tests Leiecester face before they are virtually assured of the title this season.
Kieran McKenna’s side wavered a little bit in the last month before an impressive 2-1 home victory against Sunderland. Leicester City are coming off a defeat agaisnt Coventry.
On the touchline for Leiecester today will be Enzo Maresca, a Pep Guardiola disciple. Leiecester squad is stacked indeed (we have to mention Harry Winks, right?), but he’s moulded them into the most powerful squad in the league and the most difficult to score against.
Heck, a quick stats search will show a good handful of Leiecester City players cramming the top of the goals and assists standings – Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is among the leaders in both.
That isn’t to say Ipswich Town are less potent. They rank among the best in xG (though your HIC doesn’t care much for this stat) and Leif Davis is the second-leading player in the assists category.
Aside from these stats I have only recently pulled up, these have been two of the most exciting teams to watch in the Championship this year. And I think, regardless of the result, it’s going to be a heck fo a game.
Kick-off is at 8pm GMT/3pm ET.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Mississippi Goddam, by Nina Simone
And now for your links:
Alfie Devine made a memorable debut after being loaned out to Plymouth Argyle
The Athletic ($$) revists a deep dive it did on reported Spurs target Antonio Nusa
Coventry City and Sheffield Wednesday condemn alleged racial abuse directed at Kasey Palmer
AC Milan-Udinese briefly suspended after club walks off pitch over alleged racial abuse directed at Mike Maignan
Gianni Infantino calls for forfeit for teams whose fans ‘commit racist abuse’