Leicester City-Chelsea Preview

Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has spoken of "enjoying the challenge" of the Premier League ahead of his team's home game against Leicester City.

Tuchel's side were hammered 3-0 away at Leeds United last time out, with new signing Kalidou Koulibaly seeing red in a horror day for the Blues.

The German boss may not be on the sidelines against the Foxes after receiving a touchline ban from the FA for his behaviour in the 2-2 draw with Tottenham the previous week.

Ahead of the game at Stamford Bridge, Tuchel has spoken on his Premier League experience and added that he is expecting his players to hit back from the Leeds defeat.

"We always see a response because we don't like to lose and as painful as it is to analyse and look again, it's important. We always get a response once the reasons are clear," Tuchel told reporters.

"Of course, I am enjoying the challenge, the challenge to build a new group, and be in the middle of the Premier League."

Leicester have been quiet in the transfer window in terms of incomings, but veteran goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has left and James Maddison and Youri Tielemans have been rumoured to also be on their way out.

The Foxes are without a win this season and in 19th position, only kept off the foot of the table by West Ham United.

Chelsea have been closely-linked with Leicester defender Wesley Fofana, and manager Brendan Rodgers has ruled out Fofana from featuring at Stamford Bridge.

"He won't be available for the weekend. He has trained with our under-21 squad," Rodgers said.

"For me, it's always about the commitment and when the players are ready to commit to the ethos of the team. If they're not in the right frame of mind, we have to move on."

Chelsea - Conor Gallagher

The 22-year-old made his first Premier League start in the defeat to Leeds United. He has not scored in his last 15 league games, so will be keen to break that unwanted record against the Foxes.

Leicester City - James Maddison

Maddison has either scored or assisted in each of his last seven Premier League appearances, with the last midfielder to have a goal involvement in more consecutive appearances in the competition was Mesut Ozil (eight in December 2015). He is certainly laying down a marker for England manager Gareth Southgate ahead of the World Cup in Qatar later this year.

- Chelsea have won two of their last three Premier League games against Leicester (D1), after a six-game winless run against the Foxes (D4 L2).

- Leicester have won just one of their last 10 Premier League away games against Chelsea (D4 L5), with the Foxes not scoring more than once in any of these 10 meetings.

- Chelsea will go into this match in the bottom half of the Premier League, the first time they'll do so for a league game since September 2020 vs West Brom (drew 3-3). Excluding games played on MD1, the Blues have lost none of their last 20 games when starting in the bottom half (W11 D9) since a 2-1 defeat to Leicester City in December 2015 in José Mourinho's last match in charge.

- Leicester City have won just two of their last 15 Premier League away games (D5 L8) and have kept just one clean sheet in their last 27 on the road. Their two victories in the former run came against Burnley and Watford, both of whom were relegated at the end of the campaign.

- Thomas Tuchel has been in charge of 60 Premier League games as Chelsea manager. The Blues have conceded 34 goals in the most recent 30 of those - twice as many as they did in the German's first 30 league matches in charge (17). Chelsea are yet to lose back-to-back Premier League fixtures under Tuchel, something they will look to avoid against Leicester after losing 3-0 to Leeds last time out.

Updated August 26, 2022