Leicester City welcome Rennes to the King Power Stadium in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie in 2021-22 UEFA Europa Conference League.
Leicester qualified for this stage after defeating Randers in the Knockout Play-Offs, whereas Rennes qualified for this stage as Group G winners.
Team News
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James Maddison is a slight doubt for Leicester with a recurrence of a back injury which forced him to miss Saturday’s league win over Leeds.
James Justin (hamstring) is another doubt but Jamie Vardy (knee) are now ruled out.
Ryan Bertrand (knee), Wesley Fofana (Coronavirus), Ricardo Pereira (hamstring), Jonny Evans and Timothy Castagne (both thigh) remain absent.
Rennes could welcome Lovro Majer back into contention after he missed last weekend’s win over Angers with a hamstring injury.
Romain Salin (calf), Lesley Ugochukwu (ankle), Loic Bade (groin), Kamal-Deen Sulemana (back) and Jeremy Gelin (knee) are ruled out.
Stat Attack
- This is Leicester’s first-ever meeting against Rennes in all competitions.
- Rennes have lost all three previous away trips against English teams which were actually played (L3), excluding their 3-0 group win over Tottenham this season after Spurs forfeited their home game.
- Leicester are playing French opposition for the very first time in all UEFA competitions.
- Rennes are yet to keep a clean sheet in seven matches against English opposition in all UEFA competitions which were actually played.
- Harvey Barnes has scored in each of Leicester’s two Europa Conference League games this season.
Prediction
Leicester seem to have taken a step forward in the past week with consecutive clean sheets which has been a rarity this season, yet they were made to work hard for Saturday’s win with disciplined defensive organisation and clinical attacking play.
Rennes however are in good goal-scoring form and Gaetan Laborde in particular has scored in his last three matches, so will be eager to seize the initiative heading into their home leg next week especially given how compact they are with the ability to pressurise the opposition into long balls.
I however expect Leicester to try and stretch Rennes out wide and maximise their attacking chances, although their long ball quality could be enough to cause issues if their attacking players press high up the pitch within Rennes’ defensive lines.
No matter how Brendan Rogers’ Foxes approach this game though, I don’t see them getting a clean sheet but Rennes’ away form against English team is poor so a home win could be a decent outcome heading into the second leg.
Prediction: Leicester 2-1 Rennes
