Foxes vs Wolves: Premier League Battle of Hungry Predators

Leicester City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Both Leicester City and Wolverhampton showed in Matchday 1 of the Premier League that they are hungry for victory; and after failing to get the results they wanted, they are expected to come out with more determination in the second week.

The two teams have a long history, having played against each other for many years in the Championship. Nonetheless, it has been almost 14 years since they last fought in England’s top-flight competition, and that should only add more drama to their meeting at King Power Stadium this weekend.

Talking Points

Premier League 2018 news: Claude Puel and Leicester host Wolves as they seek first win — Leicester City coach Claude Puel shouts at team during game vs Manchester United

Leicester and Wolves showed great potential in their opening fixtures, though both are a little bit unlucky not to get maximum points against their more favoured opponents.

The Foxes lost to Manchester United 2-1, going down to an early Paul Pogba penalty and an 83rd-minute strike from Luke Shaw. However, that doesn’t show the whole picture, particularly their spirited performance.

Leicester threatened for the most part and, in fact, dominated possession (54 percent). They have a total of 13 shots, four on target, and gave the Red Devils a scare with a late rally. Jamie Vardy’s injury-time goal was a mere consolation, but Leicester sure proved they are here to fight for the top spots and not just to survive.

One problem for Leicester now is filling the void left by Riyad Mahrez who joined Manchester City this summer.

In the latest Premier League 2018 news, Foxes boss Claude Puel admitted that finding a player with the same skillset and quality is easier said than done. After all, Mahrez was crucial for Leicester this past year, tallying 12 league goals and 10 assists.

James Maddison (Norwich United) and Rachid Ghezzal (AS Monaco) were brought in as replacements, but the two are yet to get going.

“We lost Riyad and we cannot replace him with his quality,” Puel said via FanSided. “It was important to give those attributes for the squad and to share the responsibility in the team.”

“Not just Maddison, but for the future it will be also Ghezzal or different players. We try to give good additions for the squad with different talented players and we will see this in the next games.”

On the other hand, Wolverhampton are coming off a 2-2 draw against the retooled Everton. They trailed two times and twice they fought back to share the spoils against the team that finished eighth in the 2017/18 season.

Ruben Neves produced another moment of magic for his team to level matters in the first half before Raul Jimenez nodded home another equaliser late in the second half (after the team trailed again via Richarlison’s second goal of the night).

That performance will only help them grow in confidence, and game-hero Jimenez already has some nice words for the Wolves—a team which he believes is capable of matching the big boys.

“We all see each other in the dressing room and we know that we have a lot of quality and it is just keep working and let’s show that we are a good team. I think we will keep working and looking forward to better results in the league,” the 27-year-old added via HITC.

History

The two clubs have met on 110 previous occasions, the last time in 2017 in a friendly that saw the Wolves win 1-0.

Before that club-friendly, their last competitive match was in the Championship in the 2012/13 season. The two split the home-and-away fixtures back then, both winning 2-1 in their respective home games.

Interestingly, the last time they played against each other in the Premier League was in the 2003/04 campaign. Wolverhampton won their first game 4-3 before Leicester played out a goalless draw in the return fixture.

Overall, the Wolves have the edge in their head-to-head record with 42 wins to Leicester’s 36.

	Leicester City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers	Leicester City Asian Handicap -0.50 @ 2.08
	August 18, 22:00 (GMT+8)

Leicester City are still the better and deeper team. Besides Vardy, they have top-class players like Harry Maguire, Kasper Schmeichel and Shinji Okazaki who were all part of the World Cup 2018 in Russia last June.

The SBOBET football offers on Premier League 2018 betting point to a Leicester victory at home, something expected given that they are pretty hard to defeat at King Power.

I think it will be a well-fought and closely contested encounter. It’s also likely that the first half will end up in a draw. Nevertheless, I like what I saw from Leicester, and I expect them to come out on top with a one-goal lead.