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How often do teams make that daunting trip to Anfield with a genuine expectation of winning against the giant Jurgen Klopp?
Liverpool are undefeated at home in 63 games, have started the season well despite a tough losing streak and yet those fortress walls could be affected this weekend.
To call this game a banana peel for the Premier League champions is an understatement. The new £ 50 million training base could also be a fancy rehab facility given the Reds’ staggering list of injuries and Leicester will think they’re there to take it.
Liverpool face the biggest test of this season of the Premier League on Sunday in Leicester City
The Foxes will enter Sunday’s game at Anfield full of confidence at the top of the table.
They say the styles make the fights and Brendan Rodgers swashbuckling XI look tailor-made to deliver a knockout.
The basis for much of Liverpool’s recent success has been its established defensive line, but it has been decimated by injuries.
Virgil van Dijk is out for the season with his cruciate ligament injury and teammate Joe Gomez is also out of the game for the long haul after a ruptured patellar tendon in England training.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is often a focal point for the team in both offense and defense, injured his calf against Manchester City and Andy Robertson has recently injured a hamstring on international duty, although he could still play on Sunday.
Reds eliminate Trent Alexander-Arnold (right) with doubts from Mo Salah and Jordan Henderson
In midfield, Jordan Henderson faces a late evaluation after feeling a problem in England, Thiago Alcántara has not played since Richarlison tackled him in the Merseyside derby and Fabinho is getting back in shape after suffering an injury in the hamstring.
Mo Salah, the team’s top goal threat with eight in the league this season, is isolating himself from having contracted coronavirus.
Even substitute right back Neco Williams missed Wales’ game against Finland is doubtful for the weekend with a foot injury.
It must be said that Leicester has major back injury problems, Timothy Castagne and Ricardo Pereira are expected to be unavailable, Caglar Soyuncu and Daniel Amartey are absent for a long time and Wesley Fofana is facing a knee scan.
Leicester has injury concerns with Timothy Castagne (left) and Wesley Fofana (right) doubting
But it is Liverpool who are ashamed of the numbers behind this season. They have conceded an average of two goals per game, ranking 19th in the league.
It will be the job of a makeshift rearguard group to change that on Sunday. James Milner could fit in on the right side with Joel Matip and possibly Fabinho in the middle and Robertson or Kostas Tsimikas out of bounds.
The statistics are grim reading. Only Sheffield United have kept fewer clean sheets than Liverpool this season (1).
And when opposition teams fabricate a shot opportunity, Liverpool have the third highest xG per shot faced (0.14).
Liverpool’s defense has been a concern, only Sheffield United have fewer shutouts than them
Jamie Vardy has started the season well and Leicester has the third highest xG total this period
All of this will be music to the ears of Rodgers and Leicester, flying high at the top of the Premier League table.
Jamie Vardy already has eight goals and James Maddison is also starting to do well. Liverpool’s weaknesses are exactly the areas the Foxes can exploit.
Leicester have the third highest xG total in the Premier League and the highest of any team Liverpool have faced so far this season.
However, what will scare the Reds is that Sunday’s visitors lead the top flight in two key metrics.
Leicester has the best shot coverage rate in the league, scoring one out of every four shots.
A striking shot conversion rate of 24 percent ranks them first, scoring nearly one in four shots, meaning their xG per shot is 0.18.
The Foxes are only 14th in shots per game (9.4), but when they create an opportunity, there’s a great chance the ball will end up in the back of the net.
If the stats aren’t a clear enough indication of how badly Liverpool are currently facing Leicester on paper, their style of play is another thread of the argument.
While their 7-2 elimination by Aston Villa served as a wake-up call (they haven’t lost since), it clearly demonstrated the ways Liverpool can win.
Liverpool proved in their 7-2 loss to Aston Villa that their high line could be their own downfall
Entering behind the high line, the technical ability to beat a man in midfield to free up space and rake diagonal balls over the top creates massive vulnerabilities for Klopp’s men.
A closer inspection of the high-pressure and front-line teams Leicester has faced this season will also worry Liverpool fans.
His former manager has orchestrated sensational victories over Manchester City and later Leeds. The styles of Pep Guardiola and Marcelo Bielsa, although different in some respects from Klopp’s Liverpool, retain similar elements.
The Midlands club led City to the cleanup in a 5-2 hit at the Etihad in September and had too much quality at halftime for Leeds, beating the exciting new boys 4-1.
Leicester have taken some scalps this season, including a 5-2 win at Man City (above)
Will Klopp play with the approach on his side so changed to be more cautious? It doesn’t seem like the nature of a man who opted for a 4-2-4 lineup at City before the international break.
Bookies are rarely wrong and the odds for this game support the points above.
Liverpool are almost even to win on Sunday and clearly the money men believe this will be as tough for the Reds as all indicates.
A porous defense against a devastating attack, one side with a vulnerability to counterattack and another with ruthless efficiency at halftime, an injury-ravaged defense against a clinical front line … now it’s guaranteed to be 0-0.
