Leicester City will be aiming to make history this weekend by booking their place in the last four of the FA Cup for the first time in just under 40 years.
The Foxes head into their quarter-final meeting with Manchester United in positive form and can welcome back a key returnee in the form of Belgian midfielder Dennis Praet.
Praet has been ruled out of action since suffering a hamstring injury against Stoke City in January. With him now back fit, Rodgers must restore him to the starting line-up against the Red Devils.
When analysing the candidates of those who would drop out of the team, the initial answer would be Ayoze Perez.
Despite the Spaniard notching his third goal of the season in the 5-0 thumping of Sheffield United last time, Praet would surely be a better option than the former Newcastle man.
Deployed alongside the regular midfield duo of Youri Tielemans and Wilfred Ndidi, the former Sampdoria man could dramatically reduce the amount of available space in midfield.
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This, in turn, would negate the space for the Red Devils in the centre, potentially limiting the creativity and goal threat from the likes of Paul Pogba and the inspirational Bruno Fernandes.
After all, the key to beating the Red Devils could be to halt the Portuguese ace, considering that he has contributed to 46% of his team’s Premier League goals this season.
Indeed, in the 19 games that Fernandes has not had a direct goal contribution, the Red Devils have only won six, failing to score in nine of those matches.
Whilst the £18m-rated Praet would be extremely useful in limiting the space that the visitors can operate in, his composure on the ball could also be extremely useful. When compared to Perez, the midfielder is dispossessed on far fewer occasions, whilst racking up a greater pass success rate of 82.4% compared to 75.2% according to WhoScored.
It goes without saying then that limiting United of considerable possession in midfield could potentially be a huge factor in terms of Leicester winning the game.
Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers has already labelled Praet as “wonderful” ahead of the match, so he will be hoping the midfielder has an equally wonderful performance as Leicester pursue history against Manchester United.
AND in more news, take a look at which Leicester star has handed Brendan Rodgers a devastating injury blow ahead of the Manchester United clash…