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Leicester City predicted line-up v Crystal Palace with three-way battle in contentious position

Facundo Buonanotte of Leicester City celebrates
-Credit:Getty Images


Leicester City’s right-wing berth is again the most contentious position as they prepare for a big Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace.

Facundo Buonanotte will be the man fans want to see on the right side but the Argentinian has only started three of eight matches under Ruud van Nistelrooy and his place in the team is not a given. Jordan Ayew has been in rotation with the Brighton loanee in recent games, but Kasey McAteer was the preferred option early in the campaign, and he’s now fit to return.

Under van Nistelrooy, City have been at their best in attack when combining the talents of Buonanotte and Bilal El Khannouss. But van Nistelrooy values Ayew’s experience and leadership.

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What may help Buonanotte’s cause is that van Nistelrooy’s favourite goal in City’s 6-2 win over QPR was the third, a move that was started and finished by the Argentinian. The 20-year-old spread play and then raced into the box so that he was there to leap up and head in after good work on the left from Stephy Mavididi and El Khannouss saw the Moroccan clip in a teasing cross.

El Khannouss was withdrawn on the hour mark against QPR to allow him to conserve fitness for the crucial match against fellow bottom-half side Palace, and Mavididi came off six minutes later. Buonanotte expended a little more energy, playing until the 81st minute, and that throws doubt over the loanee being named in the 11.

Across the rest of the line-up, there is likely to be little debate. Jannik Vestergaard is fit again and while Wout Faes had a good game against QPR, it’s the Dane who has been a clear first-choice centre-back under van Nistelrooy, and he is expected to start alongside Conor Coady.

There are no other injury returnees, so the rest of the line-up should be unchanged. While it’s unusual for Jamie Vardy to start twice in a few days at this stage of his career, he was taken off for the final half-hour against QPR, and so he is expected to captain City on Wednesday night.

Predicted City XI (4-2-3-1): Stolarczyk; Justin, Coady, Vestergaard, Kristiansen; Winks, Soumare; Buonanotte, El Khannouss, Mavididi; Vardy. Subs from: Iversen, Thomas, Faes, Okoli, Choudhury, Skipp, De Cordova-Reid, Ayew, McAteer, Alves, Daka, Edouard.

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