Everton v Leicester preview: Toffees look to rear-guard against Foxes
That was the Toffees' second clean sheet in as many matches and there are now only three sides across the division who have conceded fewer goals (12).
If the Merseysiders can secure another shutout here, then that’d be three straight PL clean sheets for the first time since March 2021 and more evidence of improvement under manager Frank Lampard.
While Lampard will be pleased with these defensive efforts, his next task will be trying to stop that solidity coming at the expense of Everton’s attack which is the joint third-worst coming into the round (11).
They did score three for the first time this season in their last home game and have also found the net in the last seven competitive games against Leicester, going undefeated in each of the previous five (W3, D2), so the English boss will be hopeful that his frontline fires here.
With Everton looking to find their clinical edge, you’d have been forgiven for calling Leicester, who’ve let in the third-most goals ahead of the round (25), an ideal opponent.
However, they’ve conceded just one goal across their last four PL matches (W2, D1, L1), and that came against champions Manchester City in last week’s slender defeat.
That loss did continue a concerning trend though which has seen the Foxes fail to win any league game in which they’ve conceded this term (D1, L8).
Despite recent improvements, Leicester are still enduring their worst start to a PL season (W3, D2, L8) since 2014/15 and need a positive result to try and climb out of the relegation zone.
They did win their last away league outing emphatically (4-0, Wolves), ending a streak of five straight away league defeats and securing another success here would give them successive PL away wins for the first time since December 2020.
Key battle: Jordan Pickford (28) was an immovable object last week, making six saves to preserve Everton’s clean sheet. As a result, he finished the round with only two PL keepers having made more total saves this season (49).
He’ll be out to stop Jamie Vardy (35) who has scored six goals against Everton, and he bagged Leicester’s most recent away goal.
Hot streak: Leicester have scored in 12 straight PL matches at Goodison Park.
