Styles make fights and two counter punchers clashing at Molineux won't make for a classic - but it's Leicester who might find that one knockout blow.
Wolves v Leicester (1230 GMT Sky Sports Premier League)
A real puzzler at Molineux to start our weekend with a couple of sides who have impressed greatly against the best the Premier League has to offer, only to have come unstuck against the lesser lights far too often.
Leicester beat Man City and Chelsea but lost to Newport, Cardiff and ten-man Southampton, while Wolves also beat Chelsea and Spurs but have struggled at home in particular, losing last time out to Palace and in fact winning just four times in front of their own fans.
There's no great mystery to the struggles of teams like these, they've got enough quality to hurt bigger teams when playing on the break but having to break down the rest of the league playing defensively against them is a different story.
Both sides are better away from home and both are also among the worst scoring teams in the league, languishing in the bottom four for games containing over 2.5 goals, so despite being two of the better teams outside the top six everything points to this being a low-scoring encounter.
Wolves struggle to score at home and Claude Puel is getting no plaudits, but a few decent results, with his cagey tactics. Don't expect many thrills and spills in this one.
(video no longer available)
Betting guide
Prediction: Wolves 0-1 Leicester (Sky Bet odds: 7/1)
A draw is tempting with both sides not particularly offering much goal threat as two of the lower scorers in the league, but more importantly styles make fights and both of these are counter punchers so there could be a lot of shadow boxing and few knockout blows.
Best bet: Half-time draw at 10/11
Leicester have only led once at half time away from home this season, Wolves have only led once at half time at Molineux this season - it's hard to ignore those type of stats. 6/4 on a goalless first half is of appeal but just in case we're taking the safety-first option.
Stats: 50+ booking points at 15/8
No team has more red cards than Leicester this season - Wolves got one last game, albeit a bit harshly, but on average there have been just under four cards per game in their last five home games in the league so the combination of the two adds up to bookings, and plenty of them.
RequestABet: Leicester win, under 2.5 goals, over 40+ bookings, under 9 corners
Wolves v Leicester Opta stats
- Wolves came from 0-3 down at half-time to win 4-3 in their only previous Premier League home match against Leicester, back in October 2003.
- Leicester won the reverse fixture 2-0 back in August and are looking to do the league double over Wolves for the first time since the 1995-96 second tier campaign.
- Leicester have kept a clean sheet in both meetings with Wolves in all competitions this season (2-0 league, 0-0 League Cup). The last time they kept a clean sheet in three games against the same opponent in a season was in 2011-12 vs Nottingham Forest.
- Wolves have lost five of their last seven home league games (W2) – they only lost two of their first 27 league games at Molineux under Nuno Espirito Santo (W18 D7).
- Leicester are looking to win three consecutive away league games for the first time since April 2016.
- Leicester have scored in 18 Premier League games this season – more than any other non ‘big six’ side in the competition.
- Only Cardiff (15) have conceded the first goal in more Premier League games than Leicester this season (14). However, the Foxes have avoided defeat in more games when conceding the first goal in the division this season (six – W3 D3).
- Leicester’s Jamie Vardy has failed to score in his four appearances against Wolves in all competitions. He’s only faced Hull (5) more often without finding the net for the Foxes.
- 10 of the last 16 Premier League goals conceded by Wolves have been via set pieces (four corners, four free-kicks, two penalties).
- Wolves’ Willy Boly was sent off in their 0-3 defeat to Man City, the 13th time they’ve received a red card in a Premier League match, winning none of those games (W0 D2 L11).
Follow Sporting Life on social media - find us on Facebook here or tweet @SportingLifeFC
Related football links