On Sunday, fifth-place Chelsea hosts 19th-place Leicester City in what is expected to be a one-sided Premier League match-up at Stamford Bridge.
Date: 09/03/2025
Location: Stamford Bridge
Time: 2pm
When these two sides last faced off back in late November, Chelsea earned a 2-1 win at the King Power Stadium, however, this scoreline is a bit misreading, as Jordan Ayew fired in a 95th-minute penalty for the Foxes after Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernández had given Enzo Maresca’s side a 2-0 lead.
Chelsea’s season has been a mixed bag, as they started off the campaign like a house on fire, winning ten of their first 16 matches in the Premier League, however, they have since won three of their last 11, meaning that they are now scrambling to qualify for next season’s Champions League from what at one point looked like an unassailable position.
In terms of cup competitions, the Blues crashed out of the League Cup in the Fourth Round away at Newcastle United (2-0) after thrashing Barrow 5-0 in the Third Round. Their FA Cup campaign turned out to be very similar, as they defeated another League Two side, Morecambe, 5-0 at Stamford Bridge before losing 2-1 at Brighton.
The Europa Conference League is realistically Chelsea’s only chance of silverware in the 2024/25 season and it must be said, that it would be a failure not to win that competition when considering the strength of their squad compared to their competitors.
Maresca’s side finished top of the Europa Conference League Group Stage with six wins from six, having beaten Gent (4-2), Panathinaikos (4-1), Noah (8-0), Heidenheim (2-0), Astana (3-1) and Shamrock Rovers (5-1). They also earned a 2-1 win at FC Kobenhavn in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie.
Leicester City have had a tough return to the Premier League, as they sit five points adrift of 17th-place Wolverhampton Wanderers while showing little signs of improvement.
The Foxes failed to adequately strengthen their squad last summer while under the management of Steve Cooper and have paid the price for it ever since. The Welshman was sacked by Leicester after just 15 games in charge, having won just three of those, while since then, highly-rated coach van Nistelrooy has taken the reins and performed marginally worse, winning three in 16.
As far as cup competitions go, the Foxes were eliminated in the League Cup 5-2 by Manchester United at Old Trafford in what was ironically one of van Nistelrooy’s four games as United’s interim manager, while in the FA Cup, they suffered a controversial late defeat to United (2-1) in the Fourth Round, as Harry Maguire’s last kick winner would have been ruled out for offside had VAR been active in that round of the cup.
Premier League 
