Jamie Vardy (£10.1m) starts for Leicester at home to West Ham this afternoon, with Brendan Rodgers having stated on Friday that the striker’s ongoing hip issue is nothing to worry about.
At his pre-match press conference, the Foxes chief explained:
Jonny [Evans] is fine. Thankfully he just felt it a little tight but it was more having played his first game, so he was okay.
And like I said afterwards, Jamie is absolutely fine. He has this little something in his hip which takes a few days to settle down and he’s fine, he’s okay.
Dennis [Praet], we’ll see how he is. He’s trained but we just need to see what the reaction is for that. Obviously, he came off but that wasn’t as serious as what we thought.
Dennis Praet (£5.5m) does not make the squad despite featuring in training, though Jonny Evans (£5.5m) is fit to start. James Maddison (£7.0m) is the other notable absentee from the Leicester 18, with Rodgers stating that the midfielder is sidelined due to a calf injury.
Evans is joined in a three-man central defence by Caglar Soyuncu (£5.5m) and Daniel Amartey (£4.0m). New Leicester centre-back Wesley Fofana (not yet priced) is on the bench, along with on-loan winger Cengiz Ünder (£6.0m).
Rodgers set his team up in a 5-4-1 formation away to Manchester City in Gameweek 3, though it seems likely that James Justin (£4.7m) and Timothy Castagne (£5.7m) will be operating as wing-backs from kick off today.
That will match up with West Ham’s system, which will be overseen remotely by David Moyes.
New signing Vladimir Coufal (£4.5m) appears to have already ended any hopes of Ben Johnson (£4.0m) nailing down the right wing-back role in the enforced absence of Ryan Fredericks (£4.5m).
On Coufal, stand-in West Ham boss Alan Irvine commented:
He’s certainly ready in terms of the match preparation because of the level he’s been playing at. Physically, he’s ready.
The one thing you would’ve liked was a little bit more time with the group of players so he understood the role that we’re looking for from him.
But he’s an experienced player, from the signs in the couple of training sessions he’s had with us I’d expect him to cope.
The Hammers are otherwise unchanged from their 4-0 victory at home to Wolves last weekend.
Danny Ings (£8.5m) continues his strike partnership with Che Adams (£5.9m) for Southampton, who welcome Nathan Redmond (£6.4m) back to their matchday squad following a minor injury.
Jannik Vestergaard (£4.5m) keeps his place at centre-back in an unchanged XI for Ralph Hasenhuttl, meaning Jack Stephens (£4.9m) must make do with a place on the bench.
Pre-match, the Southampton boss remarked:
Our pre-season was everything but not perfect. We did not have time to work with the players and we have had a few injuries. Those games at the beginning, not fit players. You had to find the right solutions. Tough work at the moment.
Danny Ings is working like the other guys are working. He gets in a position where he can score and when he is in the box he is very good.
I liked to play in this kind of weather when I was a player, it will be a good battle I think.
West Brom are the visitors to St. Mary’s, with Slaven Bilic make one change to the side which began the 3-3 draw at Chelsea in GW3.
Midfielder Kyle Edwards (£4.9m) replaces Darnell Furlong (£4.5m) at right wing-back.
Former Fantasy Premier League legend Branislav Ivanovic (£4.5m) is part of the Baggies’ matchday squad along with Filip Krovinovic (£5.0m), who has rejoined the club on another season-long loan.
There is no place in the 18 for Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher (£5.5m).
Leicester XI (5-4-1/3-4-3): Schmeichel; Justin, Soyuncu, Evans, Amartey, Castagne; Barnes, Tielemans, Mendy, Perez; Vardy.
West Ham XI (3-4-3): Fabianski; Cresswell, Ogbonna, Balbuena; Masuaku, Soucek, Rice, Coufal; Fornals, Antonio, Bowen.
Southampton XI (4-2-2-2): A McCarthy; Bertrand, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Walker-Peters; Ward-Prowse, Romeu; Djenepo, Armstrong; Ings, Adams.
West Brom XI (3-4-3): Johnstone; O’Shea, Bartley, Ajayi; C Townsend, Sawyers, Livermore, Edwards; Diangana, C Robinson, M Pereira.
3 years, 6 months agoI'll kick my nuts if Antonio doesn't perform. On a WC I couldn't afford Maupay so I was between Antonio and Wilson. Oh my, Wilson exploded, should have taken the fixtures more into account.
So be it.
At least a double digit score from Antonio will do it.
What you think, will it happen?