Leicester City had Chelsea to thank for confirming their English Premier title win last season and now the reigning champions can do the rest of the chasing pack a favour by beating the league leaders at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Premier League weekend schedule
Chelsea currently lead Liverpool by five points, a lead that was cut after their suffered their first defeat in 14 matches in the Premier League, when Tottenham picked up a 2-0 victory at White Hart Lane in the last round of fixtures.
So, the Blues will want to show their powers of bouncebackability:
But, they have been hampered by a reported row between the manager Antonio Conte and the star striker Diego Costa. After a war of words during training, Conte decided to leave Costa in London for this match, which means, not only will the team be distracted by the issue, or at least the perceived one, but they will also be without their main goal source.
While Leicester have not been anywhere near as good as last season, when they cruised to a historic title, Conte will know Claudio Ranieri's men will not be pushovers, particularly at their home ground.
"I am not surprised [at Leicester's position] because this league is very tough," Conte, who won the manager of the month award for a record third consecutive time, said. "I consider them a really good team with good players, strong players, players with talent and technique, a good mix. They have a great manager. It can happen in this league. Don't forget Chelsea last season.
"The Leicester game is very important for us to restart to win. Leicester are the champions from last season, they have a lot of good players with good quality, they have impressed me."
While Chelsea are the favourites for the title, Leicester are flirting with relegation, with Ranieri's side only six points away from the bottom three. While there are no serious suggestions that Leicester could get sucked in to a relegation battle, Ranieri will want his side to get back to the top half of the table as quickly as possible.
A win over Chelsea will give them a great fillip towards that target.
"They lost to Tottenham after 13 – amazing achievement," Ranieri said of Chelsea. "We expect a lot from them but we are ready to fight and win.
"I expect a strong reaction from them. They are old champions and they want to make up for defeat.
"We have to show the right attitude and strength against Chelsea."
Team news: Leicester City: While Ranieri does not have any injury concerns, the Italian will have to manage without Daniel Amartey, Islam Slimani and Riyad Mahrez for the next few games, with all three away on African Cup of Nations duty.
Chelsea: Conte, again, has no injury problems. John Terry is suspended after picking up a red card in the FA Cup win. With Costa missing, Conte is likely to play Eden Hazard up front.
When to Watch Live
Leicester vs Chelsea is set to begin at 5.30pm GMT (11pm IST, 12.30pm ET).
Live Streaming and TV guide for the match:
India: TV: Star Sports Select HD1. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
UK: TV: BT Sport 1.
Middle East: TV: Bein Sports. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
USA: TV: NBCSN, Telemundo, NBC Universo. Live Streaming: NBC Sports Live.
Australia: TV: Optus Sport. Live Streaming: Optus Sport Online.
Canada: TV: TSN. Live Streaming: TSN TV.
