Newcastle United will aim to stretch their winning run in the Premier League to six games when they take on Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day.
The Magpies return from the World Cup break in a healthy position, sitting just two points behind Manchester City and five points behind Arsenal.
On the flip side, the Foxes find themselves thirteenth – four points outside the relegation zone and 13 points shy of third-place Newcastle.
It’s fair to say that Leicester made a dismal start to the season. Indeed, Brendan Rodgers’ men lost six of their first seven league games and only managed to win one of their first ten.
However, they discovered some form before the World Cup break – securing four clean-sheet victories in five Premier League outings.
When you look at the bigger picture, the Foxes have kept six clean sheets in their last eight league games.
On Tuesday, Leicester returned to action with an easy 3-0 win against MK Dons in the EFL Cup – with Youri Tielemans, Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy grabbing the goals.
Newcastle also returned from the World Cup break on Tuesday, claiming a 1-0 victory over Bournemouth to book their place in the EFL Cup quarter-finals.
In the Premier League, Eddie Howe’s side have lost just one of their 15 games this season – picking up eight wins and six draws in the process.
The Magpies also boast the joint-best defensive record in the division, having conceded a measly 11 goals this term.
Not only have Newcastle won each of their last five league games, but they have also won seven of their previous eight.
Head-to-head: Newcastle have won two of their last three league meetings with Leicester, clinching a 4-2 victory at the King Power Stadium back in May 2021.
The last six league meetings between Leicester and Newcastle have produced a total of 24 goals (4 goals per game), meaning we should see plenty of goals on Monday.
Team news: James Justin, Ricardo Pereira and Ryan Bertrand are all injured for Leicester, while Caglar Soyuncu and Jonny Evans are doubts for Monday.
As for Newcastle, they will be without the injured quartet of Alexander Isak, Matt Ritchie, Emil Krafth and Paul Dummet for the trip to Leicester.
There is no denying that Leicester upped their game before the World Cup. Still, Newcastle are expected to pick up where they left off before the break.
Forebet predicts that Leicester and Newcastle will combine for over 2.5 goals. However, the Magpies look set to outfox Rodgers’ men.