Leicester City vs Manchester City. Premier League.
The King Power StadiumAttendance32,090.
Watch in-game clips and highlights on the Sky Sports app
Monday 24 December 2018 12:17, UK
Manchester City will be looking to respond to their shock defeat to Crystal Palace when they travel to Leicester on Boxing Day.
Pep Guardiola's side were beaten 3-2 at home by Palace on Saturday to remain four points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.
"We have to improve," said Guardiola afterwards. "In football, this situation happens. I give a lot of credit for Crystal Palace. That is football. Sometimes it happens.
"The teams are good - the quality. We have to create more chances."
Leicester pulled off a surprise result of their own at the weekend as they won 1-0 at Chelsea thanks to a second-half goal from Jamie Vardy.
The result was the ideal response from the Foxes after they were beaten on penalties by Man City in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup in midweek.
Leicester will make a late decision on whether to hand striker Jamie Vardy a second start in five days.
Former England star Vardy netted the winner in Saturday's 1-0 victory at Chelsea, having now fully recovered from previous groin issues.
Claude Puel will leave it late to gauge Vardy's readiness for another start though, with Matty James and Daniel Amartey still long-term absentees.
Man City will check on midfielder Fernandinho after he missed Saturday's loss to Palace with a thigh problem.
The game may come too soon for David Silva (hamstring), although the playmaker has returned to light training, while defenders Vincent Kompany and Danilo are again doubtful.
Left-back Benjamin Mendy (knee) and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo (Achilles) are long-term absentees.
This is a big game and a must-win game for Manchester City, who are in trouble now as they are four points behind Liverpool. I mean it has now got down to the situation whereby if Liverpool win at Man City in a week's time - in a game you can see live on Sky Sports Premier League - it is all over.
So this is a big game for Man City and a hard one, as Leicester can cause you problems. But because they have to win, I think they will, but Saturday's result will have knocked the stuffing out of them and Man City have now lost two of their last three league games. And before that, it looked like they would never ever lose a game, but I see them just winning this one to stay on the coattails of Liverpool.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2 (15/2 with Sky Bet)