Preview: Leicester City vs. Palermo

Sports Mole previews Friday’s friendly clash between Leicester City and Palermo, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Two for two in friendly contests so far this summer, Leicester City endeavour to extend their winning sequence on Friday evening, when they face Italian outfit Palermo at the SMH Group Stadium in Chesterfield.

The Foxes trumped Shrewsbury Town 2-1 on Tuesday, while their ‘visitors’ are also riding high following a slender success, defeating Monza 1-0 last time out.

Match preview
© Reuters

Leicester’s three-goal affair with Shrewsbury in midweek bore a striking resemblance to their first friendly of the summer against Villarreal, where Stephy Mavididi and Jamie Vardy ensured that Harry Souttar’s own goal would not be punished.

On Tuesday, it was the turn of Souttar’s fellow centre-back Caleb Okoli to inadvertently prod the ball into his own net after Mavididi struck for the second time in two matches, but Kasey McAteer replied within a minute for the Foxes to ensure success.

Following a second victory from as many friendlies, new head coach Steve Cooper likened his players to a jigsaw puzzle, but rather than putting 100, 500 or even 1,000 pieces together, the ex-Nottingham Forest boss is instead attempting to connect just over 20 Premier League performers.

The Foxes are now smack-bang in the middle of their pre-season preparations, as once Friday’s game is over, Leicester have just two more friendlies on the summer calendar, taking on Augsburg in Germany on August 3 and Lens in France on August 10.

A challenging assignment versus Tottenham Hotspur on August 19 represents Leicester’s welcome back to Premier League football, which Cooper recently labelled the “biggest step-up” in domestic football on the planet, having already experienced one top-flight sacking in his career.

Unlike their English counterparts, Palermo’s bid to return to the top flight in 2023-24 was a fruitless endeavour, as the Pink and Blacks – formerly stalwarts of the Italian big time – finished sixth in the regular season before falling at the playoff hurdle.

Friday’s visitors took a giant step towards Serie A promotion by overcoming Sampdoria in their opening post-season fixture, but they were subsequently overcome 3-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals by Venezia, who would ultimately go on to nab the final top-flight spot.

Following stints under the tutelage of Eugenio Corini and Michele Mignani last season, the Pink and Blacks’ on-field operations are now overseen by Alessio Dionisi, the erstwhile Empoli and Sassuolo manager who led the former team to the 2020-21 Serie B crown.

Dionisi’s Sassuolo spell was a forgettable affair, though – the 44-year-old was sacked in February after a dreadful set of results with the Neroverdi, who were ultimately relegated – and his start to life in the Palermo chair has been a mixed bag thus far.

Indeed, the Italian outfit were bested 1-0 by Swiss side Rapperswil-Jona in their first friendly of the summer, but they reacted positively with an identical triumph over top-flight side Monza on July 20, where Federico Di Francesco was responsible for the only goal of the contest.

Leicester City friendly form:

Palermo friendly form:

Team News
© Reuters

A quartet of Leicester Euro 2024 representatives – Yunus Akgun, Jannik Vestergaard, Mads Hermansen and Wout Faes – are all still on a break, but the latter three should be back soon following their last-16 eliminations in Germany.

The Foxes have no selection concerns regarding Copa America or Paris 2024 Olympics duty, and a total of 21 players enjoyed valuable minutes against Shrewsbury; goalkeeper Danny Ward was the only player to complete the full 90.

Despite his unfortunate own goal off the bench in midweek, Okoli could return to the heart of the backline – the same goes for Souttar – but veteran striker Jamie Vardy was not part of the squad for Tuesday’s victory and might be touch-and-go for this one too.

Meanwhile, Palermo had one player at each edition of the continental championships this summer – Romanian defender Ionut Nedelcearu and American left-back Kristoffer Lund – neither of whom were involved in the win over Monza.

Di Francesco’s winner came after just eight minutes in that all-Italian affair, and the 30-year-old has likely done enough to stave off the threat of new signing Thomas Henry for now.

One member of Di Francesco’s supporting cast should be Roberto Insigne, the younger brother of Euro 2020-winning attacker and former Napoli star Lorenzo Insigne.

Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Ward; Pereira, Okoli, Souttar, Justin; Winks, Ndidi; Fatawu, McAteer, Mavididi; Daka

Palermo possible starting lineup:
Gomis; Jensen, Gomes, Lucioni; Diakite, Saric, Ranocchia, Buttaro; Insigne, Di Francesco, Brunori

We say: Leicester City 1-0 Palermo
All of Leicester and Palermo’s friendlies so far this summer have been closely-fought battles, but the Foxes are still yet to concede to an opposition player this summer; their own defenders have been their worst enemies.

However, as the Italians do not pack a huge attacking punch, one effort should be enough for Cooper’s men to prevail for the third time in a row, assuming that they can cut out the own goals.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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