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The group stage of this season’s Europa League campaign begins this week, and on Thursday night, the Premier League’s Leicester City face off with Zorya Luhansk of Ukraine.
Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester side are coming off a stunning loss to high-flying Aston Villa, and so will be hoping to rebound in a big way by winning this game.
Leicester City vs Zorya Luhansk Head-to-Head
Leicester have seen mixed results during the 2020-21 campaign to date. The Foxes started well with three straight wins – including a thumping 2-5 victory over Manchester City – but two straight losses, the most recent to Midlands rivals Aston Villa, have brought them back down to earth.
Zorya, meanwhile, have been in strong form since losing their opening two games in the 2020-21 Ukrainian Premier League. They’ve now put together a four-match unbeaten run – although it’s worth noting that they’ve only won one match so far.
It should come as no surprise to find out that these two sides have never faced off in European competition before.
Leicester City form guide: W-L-W-L-L
Zorya Luhansk form guide: L-D-W-D-D
Leicester City vs Zorya Luhansk Team News
Leicester have a number of injury issues to contend with ahead of this game. Wilfried Ndidi, Ricardo Pereira, Caglar Soyuncu and top scorer Jamie Vardy all missed the Foxes’ loss to Aston Villa, and all are doubtful for this game too.
Injured: Wilfried Ndidi, Ricardo Pereira, Caglar Soyuncu
Doubtful: Jamie Vardy
Suspended: None
Zorya will be without midfielder Maksym Kazakov and goalkeeper Zauri Makharadze, who are both sidelined with injuries. The Ukrainian side will have a full-strength squad outside of those two players, though.
Injured: Maksym Kazakov, Zauri Makharadze
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Leicester City vs Zorya Luhansk Predicted XI
Leicester City predicted XI (4-1-4-1): Kasper Schmeichel, Timothy Castagne, Wes Morgan, Jonny Evans, Christian Fuchs, Hamza Choudhury, Ayoze Perez, Demarai Gray, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Marc Albrighton, Kelechi Iheanacho
Zorya Luhansk predicted XI (4-1-4-1): Mykyta Shevchenko, Denys Favorov, Vitaliy Vernydub, Joel Abu Hanna, Dmytro Khomchenovskyi, Dmytro Ivanisenya, Artem Hromov, Vladyslav Kabayev, Vladyslav Kocherhin, Oleksandr Hladkyy
Leicester City vs Zorya Luhansk Prediction
Brendan Rodgers is likely to make a number of changes to his Leicester side for this game, but it shouldn’t make too much of a difference. Even a weakened Leicester City are much stronger on paper than Zorya, and given that the match is taking place at the King Power Stadium, the Premier League outfit should have a huge advantage.
Expect this one to be a comfortable win for Leicester, allowing them to rebound from that loss to Villa.
Prediction: Leicester City 3-0 Zorya Luhansk
