Sheffield United vs Leicester City 8/24/19 EPL Betting Odds and Prediction

Sheffield returns to the Premier League for the first time since 2007 and they will host Leicester City on 8/24/19 at Bramall Lane.

Sheffield United

Sheffield United is a team that dates back to 1889 who plays at the famous Bramall Lane since their inception. They won the Football League in 1898 and the FA Cup four times. However, this club has not won a trophy since 1925 when the last of their FA Cups came. After falling to financial problems in the 1990s, Sheffield United was relegated to the First League after the 2011 season.  Saudi Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud bought 50% of the team in 2013 and with new financial muscle, they booked a return to the Premier League after 12 years following a highly successful 2018-19 season where they stayed in the Top 6 of the Championship for most of the time.

These are the players on Sheffield United’s roster as of August 2, 2019:

1 GK Dan Henderson ( on loan from Manchester United), 2 DF George Baldock, 3 DF Enda Stevens, 4 MF John Fleck, 5 DF Jack O’Connell, 6 DF Chris Basham, 7 MF John Lundstram, 8 MF Luke Freeman, 9 FW Oliver McBurnie, 10 FW Billy Sharp ( captain ), 11 FW Callum Robinson, 12 DF John Egan, 13 DF Jake Wright, 14 MF Ravel Morrison, 15 DF Phil Jagielka, 16 MF Oliver Norwood, 17 FW David McGoldrick, 18 DF Kieron Freeman, 19 DF Richard Stearman, 20 MF Kean Bryan, 21 MF Mark Duffy, 22 FW Lys Mousset, 23 MF Ben Osborn, 25 GK Simon Moore, 26 MF Ricky Holmes, DF Sam Graham, DF Ben Heneghan, DF Stephen Mallon, MF Samir Carruthers, FW Leon Clarke

Leicester City

Leicester City is one of six clubs to win the Premier League title since its inception in 1992. The Foxes won the Premier League in 2015-16, their first top-flight title. They were dubbed as the “Unbelievables” for that victory considering that they were soccer betting favorites to face relegation at the start of the season. Throughout their history, they have played all but one year in the top two divisions of English football. Brendan Rodgers took over after Claude Puel was sacked last February with Leicester City in 12th place. The team improved to 9th under Rodgers during the final reckoning of the previous term.

Here is the player for Leicester City as of July 08, 2019:

1 GK Kasper Schmeichel (vice-captain), 3 DF Ben Chilwell, 4 DF Caglar Soyuncu, 5 DF Wes Morgan, 6 DF Jonny Evans, 7 FW Demarai Gray, 8 FW Kelechi Iheanacho, 9 FW Jamie Vardy, 10 MF James Madison, 11 MF Marc Albrighton, 12 GK Danny Ward, 14 DF Ricardo Pereira, 15 DF Harry Maguire, 16 DF Flip Benkovic, 17 GK Eldin Jakupovic, 18 DF Daniel Amartey, 19 MF Harvey Barnes, 22 Matty James, 23 MF Adrien Silva, 24 MF Nampalys Mendy, 25 MF Wilfred Ndidi, 27 FW Fousseni Diabate, 28 DF Christian Fuchs, 31 FW Rachid Ghezzal, 33 MF Bartosz Kapustka, 35 DF Callum Elder, 37 MF Andy King, 38 MF Hamza Choudhury, DF James Justin, MF Youri Tielemans, FW Ayoze Perez, FW Islam Slimani

Who Wins?

Sheffield United are back in the Premier League since their unceremonious relegation in 2007. The finished second in the Championship last season by winning 15 out of their last 23 games, losing just three matches. Oliver Norwood was instrumental in the Blades’ return to the Premier League with seven assists and two goals in just 23 games.

There are flashes that this team belongs to the top flight but when you look at their line-up, they have one of the weakest in the Premier League. But as Leicester proved in 2016, an effective system can beat quality. I’m not just sure if that works for Sheffield United, not in this matchup.

Leicester has been impressive in preseason play as they won all but one of their matches. That game they didn’t win, they were forced to a 2-2 tie by Rotherham United. The Foxes beat Scunthorpe 1-0 to kick off their preparations and then they picked up wins over Cheltenham Town, Cambridge United and Stoke City. However, their most impressive win was against Serie A side Atalanta whom they humbled 2-1 at King Power Stadium.

Çağlar Söyüncü has shown flashes that he could be Harry Maguire’s replacement while Kelechi Iheanacho found the back of the net several times during the preseason. Jamie Vardy had an excellent 2018-19 and he needs to build on that for the Foxes to succeed in this match. Ayoze Perez scored 13 goals during the last term and should help Vardy with the scoring chores.

Harry Maguire is gone but at least that has been settled now to give the Foxes the opportunity to focus on the upcoming season. If they don’t suffer any hangover from his departure, they should be able to improve on last season’s underwhelming performance. With one of the best full-back pairings in the League and a strong central midfield trio at his disposal, Brendan Rodgers should be just fine here. I’m picking Leicester City to beat Sheffield United on 8.24.19. Prediction: Leicester City

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