The 2022-23 Premier League season starts on Sunday afternoon at the King Power Stadium with a game between Leicester City vs Brentford.
The Foxes want to improve on a bad season they had last year, while the Bees will want to build on the fact that they easily avoided relegation in their first year in the division.
Before what seems like a make-or-break Premier League season, Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers would rather not have to answer questions about the futures of several of his key players all the time.
But that’s where the Foxes are right now since they haven’t added a single first-team player, and there are worries that they won’t have enough money to do so.
After being allowed to join Nice, Kasper Schmeichel is already a significant loss to this team. Rodgers will think it’s very important that Wesley Fofana, Youri Tielemans, and James Maddison don’t follow the legendary Dane out the door.
Realistically, only one of those three could be sold if Leicester wants to try to get back into European football, but the team from the East Midlands is a long shot at reaching that goal.
Still, Rodgers will be very happy with the team’s preseason. Last weekend, they won their fourth game in a row against Sevilla.
Brentford
Brentford also finished their season with a win against a Spanish team when they beat Real Betis 1-0.
Thomas Frank might not put too much stock in preseason, but he will be happy with how the Bees have done in the transfer market since the end of last season.
Brentford beat out other teams to sign Thomas Strakosha, Ben Mee, Aaron Hickey, and Keane Lewis-Potter, all well-known players.
Even though it makes sense to expect a settling-in period, many people think the London team can do even better than their 13th place finishes in 2021-22. Leicester City vs Brentford.
Ricardo Pereira will not be able to play for Leicester because he hurt his Achilles last weekend against Sevilla.
This could cause Rodgers to switch to a back three, with Daniel Amartey coming back and James Justin and Timothy Castagne playing as wing-backs.
Harvey Barnes can’t play because he hurt his knee, so Daniel Iversen will likely get the nod between the posts.
Frank used a back four against Real Betis. The result was a clean sheet and a strong performance, which could mean that Brentford will use the same team and system on Sunday.
That would mean that Hickey and Mee would start on defence, and Lewis-Potter would have to be one of the subs.
The possible starting lineup for Leicester City is:
Iversen, Amartey, Fofana, Evans, Justin, Ndidi, Tielemans, Castagne, Maddison, Iheanacho, and Vardy.
Possible starting lineup for Brentford:
Raya; Hickey, Jansson, Mee, and Henry; Janelt, Jensen, and Norgaard; Wissa, Toney, and Mbeumo.
