Tottenham Hotspur vs. Leicester City: Match Preview, Projected Lineups & Predictions

Everything was going swimmingly at White Hart Lane last Saturday, sixty minutes into the game. Goals by Eric Dier and Nacer Chadli had given Tottenham a convincing 2-0 lead, and Spurs were dominating play. But an injury for Harry Kane forced him to sub off 64 minutes into the game, and everything changed. Spurs capitulated, as a sloppy penalty conceded and late minute goal saw Spurs drop two points in ending up at a 2-2 draw. The game marked excellent play for Kane, Mousa Dembele and Eric Dier, but sloppy mistakes by the likes of Toby Alderweireld and Erik Lamela cost Spurs the win.

Still aiming to get their first win, Tottenham travels northwest to East Midlands on Saturday to face a resurgent Leicester City side. The Foxes have started off the season with consecutive wins, skinning out victories over Sunderland and West Ham. Riyad Mahrez has led the Foxes so far with three goals, while new signing Shinji Okazaki is already looking a dangerous attacking threat. The main question may come with the centerbacks, as Robert Huth and Wes Morgan aim to stop Harry Kane from scoring his first league goal of the season.

Can Spurs change their momentum after last week's collapse and tally their first league win? We shall see.

Match Information

Date/time: Saturday, August 15, 3 p.m. (UK), 10 a.m. ET (USA)
Venue: King Power Stadium, Leicester, UK
Official: Martin Atkinson
TV: NBCSN (USA), Not Televised (UK), Sportsnet (Canada), Fox Sports 4 (Australia), other listings at livesoccertv.com
Streaming: NBCS Live Extra (USA), audio streamed at tottenhamhotspur.com

Projected Lineup

For 60 minutes last week, Tottenham Hotspur's lineup looked great. As such, we largely expect the same lineup to be used against Leicester City, as Pochettino looks to create more cohesion with his choice 11. The one change we do expect to see is for Danny Rose to return to the lineup at left back, overcoming the injury that saw Ben Davies get the start instead last week.

Prediction League

As for the Prediction League, Ed foresaw Spurs drawing with Stoke, giving him sole possession of the league lead. The rules remain the same in the Prediction League -- one point for a correct prediction and a bonus point for getting the score correct. Here are the current standings:

Michael Caley: Leicester have been shockingly good this season. They stomped Sunderland and then beat West Ham pretty easily on the road. Both matches showed some cracks -- Sunderland put together a good comeback from 0-3 and Kasper Schmeichel was extremely lucky not to be red carded for clotheslining Diafro Sakho after Sakho had beaten him at the edge of the box. But still, those are good results, and Leicester's attack with Riyad Mahrez behind a front two of Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki has been consistently dangerous. It will take some complex gameplanning to prevent the Leicester front three from dragging Eric Dier out of position as easily as they did to Lee Cattermole and Reese Oxford in the first two weeks. We've already seen that the defensive solidity of 150 minutes from Spurs can be undone as it was in the last 30 against Stoke. This is still a match that Spurs are favored in, but the matchup is much less ideal than I imagined before the season started. 2-1 Spurs.

Bryan A.: My analysis, as it was last year when we played Lester is that I have an Uncle named Lester and he is not particularly athletic or intimidating. As such, I can only believe that Lester City are similarly un-athletic and un-intimidating, which will lead to Spurs running rampant in a match that includes Clinton N'jie's Premier League debut and an excellent goal from the Cameroonian. 3-2 Spurs.

GN_Punk: Spurs get off to a quick start with a couple of goals in the first half. They'll give one away and make us sweat, but put the match away late for the first win in the season. 3-1 Spurs

Mechanick: This Leicester City attack is for real, and Walker is going to be in for a real task in slowing down Mahrez. But count me out for believing Huth and Morgan can stop the inevitable HurriKane that's coming. Big key is Mason can keep his strong play going, especially potentially against new Foxes' arrival Gokhan Inler. I think Spurs come out the victors. 3-1 Spurs

Ed F.: 1-1 Draw, and the pressure on Levy to spend more money reaches fever pitch.

Skipjack: Spurs have looked mostly good but also shaky. Lester have looked much better than anticipated. I'm going to guess 3-3 Draw.

Dustin Menno: So, after these first two match weeks, Leicester kind of scares me. They know how to put points on the board, and after last weekend’s defensive debacle that makes me a lot more wary of them. That said, I still think they’ll get relegated and I still think we should beat them. 2-1 Spurs.

Brett Rainbow: Spurs have played very well through the majority their matches against Manchester United and Stoke, but Leicester will provide a different sort of test. Unlike the other two, Leicester will likely not try to possess the ball for long periods, which may hinder Spurs ability to press effectively. It won't be easy but Spurs win. Unless Harry Kane is not fit to start, in which case all bets are off. 2-1 Spurs

Ben Daniels: Leicester beat an atrocious Sunderland and were fortunate to come away with three points against West Ham. I'm not convinced they're for real. But you know what they say, mo' Leicester mo' problems. 2-1 Spurs.

Kevin McCauley: I don't have good reasons to think anything right now. This feels like a lottery. But, uh, 2-1 Spurs.

55thVin: I've given cheeky non-analysis for two weeks and we have one point. This week I will try some baseline analysis if only because I am a superstitious guy. Foxes have been pretty good going forward while we have, save 30 minutes, been pretty good at the back. On paper, this makes for an interesting matchup. As long as we do a decent job in the midfield and Eriksen doesn't have to consistently drop deep to help out, we have the players to do the job. 2-0 Spurs.

Earl of Shoop: Did you know that an anagram for Leicester is Lice Trees? That's gross, our record this season is slightly more gross, and Leicester City are the grossest. We beicest them 2-1 through Eriksen and a pair from Kane. Vardy nicks one in garbage time because I don't think we can keep a clean sheet and him scoring is good for one of my fantasy teams. 2-1 Spurs.

Luke Zimmermann: Leiceister is plucky as hell but Spurs break through this week. Harry Kane in particular leads the charge and even Ryan Mason does something that warms our ice cold cynical hearts. 2-1, good guys. 2-1 Spurs

Salmon Chase: Harry Kane. 2-0 Spurs