The Scout: Everything Liverpool fans need to know about Leicester City

Jurgen Klopp’s side will look to make it five wins in a row in all competitions when they host Leicester City on Thursday evening.

Spirits are high at Anfield and the return of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane from AFCON duty can only improve the mood.

There will be no room for error, however, with the Reds now 12 points behind Manchester City at the top of the table - albeit with two games in hand - following the league leader’s win at home to Brentford on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ex-Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers will be desperate to bounce back from last weekend’s humiliating 4-1 FA Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest.

And the Foxes will have the chance to do the double over their hosts after a 1-0 win at the King Power Stadium in December - they are the only team in the Premier League this season to keep a clean sheet against Liverpool.

Form Guide

Position: 12th

Form: WLWLD

It’s been a perplexing season for Leicester, who have spent the last few campaigns challenging for Champions League places but now languishing in mid-table thanks to inconsistent results.

Their win at home to the Reds came only three games ago thanks to three postponements around the turn of the year - they drew with Brighton last time out and suffered an incredible injury-time defeat to Tottenham Hotspur before that.

The Foxes have had big problems away from home, and are winless in four away trips while winning only twice on their travels all season.

And their poor away form peaked last weekend as they were obliterated by Championship Forest and thrown out of the FA Cup as holders.

The defeat angered Rodgers enough for him to say some of his squad were “not top players” and warned that they will be playing for their futures at the club.

Selection issues

Leicester’s season has been ravaged by injuries to key players and they remain without a host of first-team options for their trip to Anfield.

Jonny Evans, Timothy Castagne, Jamie Vardy, Ryan Bertrand and Wesley Fofana are all sidelined, while Nampalys Mendy - a teammate of Sadio Mane in the Senegal national team - is a doubt following his countries AFCON glory.

Rodgers, while playing a very strong side at the City Ground last Saturday, rested key players including Patson Daka, Jannik Vestergaard and Boubakary Soumaré - all are expected to start on Thursday.

Expected Leicester starting-XI: Schmeichel; Pereira, Vestergaard, Soyuncu, Thomas; Ndidi, Tielemans, Soumare, Maddison; Daka, Iheanacho

Leicester’s star man

After struggling to pick up consistent minutes over the first 12 games of the season, James Maddison has been outstanding for Leicester since a goal and two assists helped his side beat Watford 4-2 in November.

From that game onwards, the 25-year-old has hit five goals and knocked up three assists in eight Premier League games at a rate of 1.04 goal contributions per 90 minutes - an average topped only by Salah and Riyad Mahrez over the course of this season (for those who have played over 500 minutes).

Maddison is the Foxes go-to-man for creativity in the final third, averaging 1.34 shots on target, 1.41 key passes and 7.75 passes into the final third every 90 minutes this season.

One of the few remaining ‘classic’ number 10s, Maddison’s brief at Leicester is to drift into pockets of space and link midfield to attack - he can also drift wide if the space is there.

The midfielder also has a wand of a right-foot and will be dangerous from set-plays - Fabinho will have his hands full.

Key weakness

Despite a mammoth centre-back pairing of Caglar Soyuncu and Vestergaard, Leicester have conceded 11 goals from set-pieces this season - the second highest in the league behind Crystal Palace and just under 30% of their total goals conceded.

They conceded again through a set piece against Forest, with Rodgers taking aim at the players collective commitment.

He said: “We lost that collective mentality. We lost out to a set piece again. It’s about a collective desire and a desire not to be beaten.”

Klopp’s men have scored 12 times from set-pieces this season and have the likes of Virgil Van-Dijk, Joel Matip, Fabinho and even 5ft 8in Diego Jota to cause huge problems in the Foxes box - not to mention the delivery of Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Liverpool host Leicester at Anfield on Thursday, kick off at 19:45.