Preview: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Leicester City - prediction, team news, lineups

Wolves announced that Steve Davis will stay on as manager until 2023, following the sacking of Bruno Lage, as Queens Park Rangers boss Michael Beale turned down their approach in midweek.

Match preview

A lacklustre start for Wolves has not really improved much since they dismissed the Portuguese manager after a 2-0 defeat at West Ham United at the start of the month.

Davis has come in and led them to their only win in the last five games, but they have lost the other four, including defeats versus Chelsea and Crystal Palace under Davis.

Their only win was also an underwhelming 1-0 success over bottom of the table Nottingham Forest thanks to a Ruben Neves penalty, so there has not been a lot for Wolves to get excited about, and they will have been bitterly disappointed to miss out on their first-choice candidate for the manager's role.

Toothless displays in front of goal mean Wolves are the lowest scoring side in the Premier League, with just five goals scored from their 11 matches, and bringing Diego Costa out of semi-retirement has hardly done much to improve things.

They have been very unfortunate with injuries though, especially in attack, as Raul Jimenez has missed a large portion of the season, and new signing Sasa Kalajdzic did his ACL in the first half of his debut.

They will require players like Adama Traore to kick on with some attacking returns, after he notched his first goal of the season in midweek.

Leicester must become less reliant on their home form if they are to pull themselves away from trouble, as the Foxes are the only Premier League team yet to pick up a point away from home.

Conceding 19 goals in their five away games is a pretty big indicator as to why they have lost every game on the road, shipping four at Arsenal, five at Brighton & Hove Albion, and six at Tottenham Hotspur.

Defeat at Bournemouth in their last away game left manager Brendan Rodgers on the brink, but a comfortable win over Leeds United in midweek has bought the Northern Irishman a bit more time to turn things around.

They cannot be faulted for their attacking output as they have scored more goals than any other side in the bottom half, but sitting in 19th shows that the problem has been defensively for much of the season.

However, after two excellent shutouts in their two matches this week, led excellently by new recruit Wout Faes, signs suggest they have found some stability at the back, but just one clean sheet in their last 31 away Premier League games is a big worry.

Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League form:

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L

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L

W

L

Leicester City Premier League form:

L

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D

W

Team News

Rayan Ait-Nouri should return to the squad after recovering from a virus, but the performance of Hugo Bueno in midweek will mean he should keep his place at left-back, as the young Spaniard was the standout performer for Wolves.

Toti also missed the match versus Palace in midweek with a slight niggle, but the centre-back may well return to the squad here, only as a substitute though given that Nathan Collins has since returned from suspension following his red card against Manchester City.

Kalajdzic and Chiquinho are both out long term with ACL injuries and neither will probably return until spring at the earliest, while no timeframe has been given on the fitness of Jimenez (hip) and Pedro Neto (ankle), but both are likely long-term absentees too.

Talisman James Maddison will return for Leicester following his suspension for accumulating five yellow cards, and despite a good performance in their win on Thursday, Dennis Praet is expected to drop to the bench to make way for Leicester's top scorer.

Jonny Evans could come back into the fold following a slight calf injury, but after Daniel Amartey helped Leicester keep two clean sheets this week, Rodgers may opt to stick with the Ghanaian at centre-back.

Wilfred Ndidi will remain out for another week at least with a thigh injury, but Marc Albrighton may return to the bench following a bout of illness.

Caglar Soyuncu injured his knee on international duty with Turkey last month, and despite attempts to play through it, he has not featured since, and will now have a scan.

Full-back pairing Ricardo Pereira and Ryan Bertrand are both out with long-term injuries for Leicester.

Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:

Sa; Semedo; Collins, Kilman, Bueno; Moutinho, Neves, Nunes; Adama, Podence, Costa

Leicester City possible starting lineup:

Ward; Castagne, Amartey, Faes, Justin; Soumare, Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall, Maddison, Barnes; Daka

We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Leicester City

There have been just five goals scored in the last six head-to-head's between these sides, and there is not much to suggest a flurry of goals is on the way here either.

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