Leicester vs Man City: Maddison seeking to boost outside England chances
As we approach Leicester's welcome of Manchester City, all the main talk has unsurprisingly been around the potential doubts over Erling Haaland playing a part in the game, with the league's top goalscorer having to come off in the midweek match against his former side Borussia Dortmund owing to a knock. While Pep Guardiola keeps his cards close to his chest regarding Haaland, two players who are both almost certain to start for their respective sides are James Maddison and Phil Foden, two players whose influence is likely to have a huge impact on the outcome of the game.
From the get-go this season, both attacking midfielders have been a massive influence for their sides, who are of course at opposite ends of the table. With a World Cup on the horizon, both will want to continue to impress for their club teams in these final matches before Gareth Southgate decides on his final squad to travel to Qatar. In terms of WhoScored rankings at the time of writing, both are the highest rated English midfielders.
Haaland’s injury may present an opportunity for Foden to be the main man in this game and really push his credentials to be trusted to do the same thing in an England shirt. Though mainly played off the right, Foden has still managed to score the second most goals for City in the league this season (6) behind only Haaland himself (17). His highest return in the league before that came in the previous two seasons (both 9), so he is well on course to better those tallies this year.
The departures of Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus may have played a part in allowing Foden to progress more up the pitch, which has seen him take 55 touches in the opposition box in his 11 appearances; again the only City player to better this is Haaland (91). In terms of big chances, he has created three, while only Haaland (6) and Kevin De Bruyne (13) can boast higher, which says how influential and involved Foden is to Guardiola’s attack, and he may be taking up more advanced roles now, which has helped in the increase to his returns.
Despite not being Leicester’s number nine, it is Maddison who has the highest number of goals for the Foxes so far this season, scoring six goals in his 10 appearances. Currently boasting an average of 3.0 shots per 90, it is no surprise that he is so among the goals, a figure that is higher than some of England’s attacking options such as Ivan Toney (2.7), Marcus Rashford (2.6) and Bukayo Saka (2.5). Creation is usually the key for Maddison, but he is still maintaining steady numbers with that, too, with two assists to his name. As well as making 2.2 key passes per 90, he has really been an all rounder this year in trying to help Brendan Rodgers side, who have made a difficult start to the season.
Of course, the trademark for the former Norwich playmaker, which he likes to highlight in his celebrations, is his pinpoint accuracy from free-kicks. This season he has already scored from two free-kicks in the league, more than any other player, and since his transfer to Leicester in the summer of 2018, eight of his goals have been from free-kicks; only James Ward-Prowse (12) and Lionel Messi (15) have scored more goals from free-kicks in that time in Europe's top five leagues.
Both players clearly have the quality to make things happen in the final third, dictating play and causing problems for defences at any level. So, with this in mind, it would make a lot of sense for Southgate to bring both players to Qatar, and even more sense if both were trusted to be starters.
With regards to this upcoming clash between the pair, many believe this game is certain to be a Manchester City win, but with question marks over Haaland’s fitness and with a Maddison inspired Leicester finding form of late, as well as the old adage ‘never back the early kick off’, people may be in for a surprise, though if Foden is firing from the get-go, the game could again prove a write off for the Foxes.
