Saturday 17 December 2016 15:08, UK
Stoke will be without Marko Arnautovic when Leicester visit the bet365 Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday.
The attacker starts a three-game ban after he was sent off in Wednesday's goalless draw with Southampton.
Mark Hughes' side face a tricky fixture list over the festive period, with the visit of the defending champions followed by trips to Liverpool and Chelsea.
"We're training on Christmas Day," the Potters boss said. "In terms of the number of games it's perhaps not as intensive as normal - but then look who we are playing against."
Four points separate Stoke in 12th and Leicester in 14th, with the Foxes looking to bounce back from their disappointing 1-0 defeat by Bournemouth in midweek.
They could welcome Kasper Schmeichel back into the team after the Leicester No 1 recovered from a fractured hand.
While Arnautovic is suspended for Stoke, defensive duo Marc Muniesa and Erik Pieters should be fit after suffering knocks against the Saints.
Goalkeeper Jack Butland (ankle) and Geoff Cameron (knee) are out.
Ibrahim Afellay will make his playing return for the U23s against Newcastle on Friday after being out since April with a knee injury.
Schmeichel is in contention for Leicester after missing the last six weeks with a hand injury.
The goalkeeper will be assessed ahead of Saturday's game but Danny Drinkwater looks likely to miss out with a knee injury. The midfielder sat out Tuesday's defeat with the problem having missed the previous three league games through suspension.
But Danny Simpson will return from a ban for the Foxes after missing Tuesday's loss having collected five bookings this season.
Stoke are yet to win a Premier League home game versus Leicester (W0 D1 L1) - the only side they have faced more than once at home in the competition but not won against.
Leicester have only conceded three goals in their last five league meetings with Stoke.
Jamie Vardy has scored just one goal in his last nine Premier League appearances away from home (v Liverpool in September).
Bojan Krkic has scored the first goal of the game in both of his last two Premier League appearances against Leicester.
Leicester have conceded in each of their last 10 Premier League away games - their worst run since April 2002 (also 10). They last conceded in 11 successive away league games in October 2001 (17 away games in a row).
Leicester's return of one point from their first eight away games of the season is the lowest total by a defending top-flight champion.
The Potters have conceded just six goals in their last nine Premier League games and have kept five clean sheets in this run.
I was impressed with Stoke the other day, especially after they went down to 10 men. Southampton don't have a great deal of firepower, but they remained solid.
Stoke will miss Arnautovic, that's for sure, but I still think they will have enough for Leicester, who we know just can't seem to perform away from home.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0
The Sky Bet odds are close for Saturday's clash.
The Potters are slight 7/5 favourites for the win with home advantage and the visiting Foxes can be backed to pick up the three points at 15/8. The draw is an option at 12/5.
Leicester duo Islam Slimani and Jamie Vardy can't be split at the head of Sky Bet's first goalscorer odds at 11/2. The top Stoke contender is Wilfried Bony at 6/1.
