Leicester have finally gone through the storm that surrounded key midfielder Riyad Mahrez, as he has returned to the team following his absence. They did good in the FA Cup last week, where they defeated Sheffield United and moved to the round of 16. They will now play host to the visiting Stoke City on Saturday when the two teams meet for the 28th Match-day of the Premier League. Stoke City have been in pretty poor form lately, as they have won just a single match over the past couple of months.
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Leicester (9-10-8) are coming off a strong performance in the FA Cup against Sheffield United, whom they defeated by a slim 0-1 at home. Jamie Vardy did his thing after an assist by Riyad Mahrez, who returned to the starting line-up after a couple of weeks of absence due to psychological reasons. That absence really hurt Leicester, who hadn’t won any of their previous three matches (0-2-1). They are now sitting at the 8th spot of the Premier League with 35 points, but are a whopping 17 points behind the top-5 spots that grant entrance to the European competitions next season. Moreover, they are sitting nine points ahead of the relegation zone, with nine teams in-between. They have been quite stable at home so far in the season (6-4-3), where they haven’t lost any of their last seven matches in all competitions (4-0-3). Moreover, they have kept four clean sheets in their last five home matches in all competitions. They will be coming here with just a single injury concern, as Shinji Okazaki is the only one who is currently listed as questionable.
On the other hand, Stoke City (6-14-7) run out of luck in their previous match, where they were stuck at a 1-1 draw at home against Brighton. Their opponents took the lead at the 32nd minute, but Stoke City managed to pull even at the 68th minute. However, they were awarded a penalty kick at the 90th minute, but Charlie Adam failed to score from the spot. They have been in really bad form lately, as they have won just one match over the past couple of months (1-5-2). Stoke City are now sitting at the 19th spot of the Premier League with 25 points, just two points behind the relegation zone and Huddersfield, Swansea and Crystal Palace. They have been awful on the road so far in the season (1-9-3), where they have scored just 11 goals, and have conceded 32, which is the worst road defense. They have lost seven of their last eight road matches, but have failed to score in just three of those. Stoke City will be missing Ireland on this one, while Crouch and Martins Indi are being listed as doubts.