Stoke City vs Leicester City. Premier League.
Bet365 StadiumAttendance29,602.
Saturday 4 November 2017 12:00, UK
Ryan Shawcross is an injury doubt for Stoke as they host Leicester in the Premier League on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 11.30am.
The defender has picked up a thigh strain, but Mark Hughes is hopeful that he can recover in time to face a resurgent Foxes side under new manager Claude Puel.
Stoke have never beaten Leicester at home in the Premier League in three attempts (D2 L1) with the Potters' last home league win against them came in March 2007, with a 4-2 victory in the Championship.
The Potters also haven't managed back-to-back wins in the Premier League since January - the first of their two victories back then coming against Watford - while Leicester four-game unbeaten streak in the league.
Leicester have also come from two goals down to draw 2-2 in each of their last two Premier League visits to the bet365 Stadium, with Puel winning four of his final seven away games with Southampton in the Premier League (D1 L2) and those two defeats coming against the final top two - Chelsea and Tottenham.
Should Shawcross miss out for Stoke, Bruno Martins Indi is on hand to deputise. Geoff Cameron is not ready to return after concussion but veterans Peter Crouch and Glen Johnson are both available again.
Leicester are waiting to see if Ben Chilwell will recover from a minor knee knock and will be assessed ahead of Saturday's trip to the bet365 Stadium.
Robert Huth (knee) continues to sit out while Matty James is also troubled by an Achilles problem. Adrien Silva will remain unregistered until January.
The Foxes' only defeat in six Premier League games against Stoke came in January 2015 at the King Power, losing 1-0 - they've won three and drawn two of the other six games.
These two sides have the third (Leicester City - 41.0 per cent) and second (Stoke - 37.8 per cent) lowest average possession figures in the Premier League this season; only WBA (35.3 per cent) have averaged lower.
Mame Biram Diouf has scored in three of his last four Premier League games (three goals) - as many as in his previous 52 appearances in the competition.
Jamie Vardy has found the net in three of his last four Premier League appearances against Stoke; scoring three goals including the equaliser in the 2-2 draw in September 2015.
Vardy has netted six goals in his 10 Premier League appearances this season - four more than he had at this stage in 2016-17. He's just two goals shy of becoming the first player to score 50 Premier League goals for Leicester City.
Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy have combined for a goal (one player assisting for the other) just five times in the Premier League since they won the title. In the title-winning campaign of 2015-16, they combined for eight goals.
Stoke had a great result at Watford and Leicester are where they are because they have had some difficult games, but I can see them getting out of it no problem. But I can see nothing between these teams, so 1-1.
Paul predicts: 1-1 (Sky Bet odds 3/1)
Stoke City are Sky Bet's favourites for Saturday lunchtime's game, priced at 6/4 to beat Leicester, who are 9/5 to win or 23/10 to draw in Claude Puel's first away game. Eric Choupo-Moting is priced boosted to 13/2 to open the scoring for the Potters, while Jamie Vardy is also boosted at 5/1 to give the visitors the lead.
