Football – England – Championship
Tuesday 8th April 2014 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Leicester City secured promotion back up to the Premier League after a ten year absence when they beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 on Friday night and they’ll now be looking to put the icing on the cake when they host Brighton at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday night.
A 2-1 home win over The Owls along with QPR and Derby County both losing on Saturday afternoon ensured promotion for Nigel Pearson’s men who now command a nine point lead at the top of the Championship as second placed Burnley were held to a 1-1 draw at Watford. The Foxes are now heavy favourites to clinch the league title and I daresay manager Pearson will be making sure his players’ feet are firmly on the ground to round off their season in style.
It’s nothing less than Leicester City deserve as they hold a most impressive home record of 15-4-1 43/18 (only Burnley have also suffered just the one home loss all season), and Leicester go into tonight’s match having won eight of their last ten on home turf. In addition, they’ve kept seven clean sheets in the process and have failed to score in just two matches all season.
The firepower of Nugent (18 goals, 11 assists) and Vardy (14 goals) up front along with the valuable support from Knockaert, Dyer and King with French striker Mahrez scoring 3 goals in 4 matches has been too much for most clubs in the Championship to handle – can Brighton resist the onslaught on Tuesday night?
Brighton’s recent results suggest that they may well be happy to settle for a point at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday night if they get anything out of Leicester at all; the south coast side have not won a Championship match in their last five with three straight defeats to Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough (both at home) and an away loss at Sheffield Wednesday in between.
The Seagulls have taken just two points from the last 15 with draws against Blackburn Rovers 3-3 away and Saturday’s 0-0 draw away at Barnsley, and their recent dip in form has now left them five points adrift of the play-off pack.
Away from home, Brighton have won just twice in their last eight which were both at bottom half clubs Millwall and Bolton Wanderers, with an overall record of 7-7-6 17/16. Brighton have actually won just once when playing a top half team away from home in nine attempts so far this term and that was at Wigan Athletic back in November when The Latics were being distracted by their Europa League involvement.
I’m sure Leicester City staff, players and management will be extremely keen indeed on ‘rubber-stamping’ their promotion with a win at home tonight over a Brighton side who have dropped the ball in recent weeks – I’ll therefore back The Foxes to bring home the bacon here tonight in a 2-1 win.
Pick: Leicester City straight win @ 1.75 bet365
