With Rondon now ‘ruled out’ and the defence looking strong at Selhurst Park last weekend, the side Rafa Benitez will pick to play Leicester tomorrow looks pretty nailed on.
Without further adieu, here’s the side that Rafa looks very likely to go with come 2pm tomorrow:
(4-4-1-1) – Dubravka – Yedlin, Lascelles, Fernandez, Dummett – Ritchie, Shelvey, Diame, Kenedy – Perez – Joselu.
After our superb defensive display at Palace, you can be sure to see the same back 5, however there will definitely be at least one change up top – with Rondon ruled out with a ‘thigh injury’.
With that in mind, Joselu will almost certainly lead the line again – and with two goals in three home starts so far, let’s hope he can keep up his goalscoring form at St James’ Park.
Shelvey, Diame and Ritchie seem nailed on, so the big decisions may be whether Rafa sticks with Perez and Kenedy – or will he bring Murphy back into the team and hand Yoshinori Muto his first league start?
Personally, I can see him sticking to his guns. Kenedy needs games to get his confidence back (and can still be ‘the difference for us IF he turns up) and Perez is a player he rarely drops – so I don’t see Muto getting his first start for such an important game like this.
Would you be happy with this team?
I suspect a few would be frustrated to see Perez and Joselu up top once again, but it’s difficult to see Rafa doing anything else..
