TipResumen

LEICESTER CITY

There have been some rumours over the last week that the players at Leicester City have made it clear they don't want Claude Puel to be the manager for much longer. That is a concern for the fans with any change rumoured to be made at the international break coming up, but the performance against Manchester United was good enough to believe Puel is still being supported. The first home game of the Premier League season should still be looked forward to with some optimism for Leicester City fans especially in light of the performance at Old Trafford when they were narrowly beaten. There is definitely some real room for improvement at the King Power Stadium for Leicester City who finished with an average 7-6-6 Premier League record here last season having won 10 home League games the season before. Leicester City might have an argument for being unfortunate to lose at Old Trafford, but that defeat means they have been beaten in 6 of their last 8 games going back to last season. They had only won 1 of their previous 8 home games in all competitions- against Championship Sheffield United no less- before The Foxes were able to conclude their home campaign last season with a comfortable win over Arsenal. Nampalys Mendy is still trying to recover from an injury, but Jamie Vardy should be available from the start in this one having coming off the bench to score on the opening weekend.



WOLVES

There are some big plans being made by the owners of Wolves who want to win the Premier League in the next decade, but they have been shown it won't be an easy move into the top flight if the 2-2 draw with Everton is anything to go by. The Phil Jagielka sending off changed the pattern of the game when Wolves were trailing, but this is all a learning curve for the players and Nuno Espirito Santo to tread. Home form is considered vital for Wolves to avoid being dragged into a relegation battle, but the next couple of weeks will give them an indication of how far away they are from some of the better teams in the Division. A trip to Leicester City is followed by hosting Manchester City, and Wolves have to realise winning 14 of 23 away games in the Championship isn't an indication as to how well they can do in the Premier League. Wolves have lost 1 of their last 11 games in all competitions, but the draw with Everton means they have not won any of their last 3. They also ended last season with 3 losses in their last 7 away games including a 3-0 thumping at already relegated Sunderland on the final day of the season. Adam Traore was signed from Middlesbrough but is not expected to make his debut for Wolves until next month.



HEAD TO HEAD

Both Wolves and Leicester City beat the other 2-1 at home in the 2012/13 Championship season which is the last time these Midlands rivals met. Leicester City have won 2 of their last 6 home games against Wolves although they have only lost 1 of those games.



PREDICTION

There have been some rumours that the Leicester City players are looking to get rid of another manager having downed tools for the likes of Claudio Ranieri and Craig Shakespeare over the last couple of years. It sounds like they have now had enough of Claude Puel despite the strong performance at Old Trafford in their first game of the Premier League season and that makes it tough to trust them. Any club that have players who are willing to produce poor enough performances to ensure a manager is replaced can't really be backed to win games with the rumours around Leicester City. They were also a team that did have some difficulties getting up for games against the so-called 'lesser' clubs in the Premier League and that is highlighted by the fact that only 3 of their 7 home League wins came against teams that finished below them in the table. Having a derby game should mean the players are well aware of the importance of playing Wolves this weekend and I am not completely convinced the rumours about the player's dissatisfaction are on point. They played with some confidence at Old Trafford and better finishing might have stolen a point against Manchester United and I expect Leicester City to fashion some opportunities against this Wolves team. Wolves played well enough to earn a point against Everton last weekend in their return to the Premier League and they have some big ambitions. The sending off of Phil Jagielka certainly helped the Wolves cause and I think there is going to be a tough learning curve for the club early in the season as they bed in players who are not used to playing at the Premier League level. I do think Nuno Espirito Santo will look to make Wolves hard to beat and I don't think Leicester City can take this for granted. I do edge towards the home team if they can replicate how they played at Manchester United last Friday and Jamie Vardy's return to the starting eleven will help with converting the opportunities they can create this weekend. The derby nature of the fixture makes it a little tougher to predict too, but I am looking for The Foxes to edge out Wolves. I will back Leicester City on the Asian Handicap which will return half the stake in the event of a draw, but my feeling is that Leicester City will have just enough in the final third to win their first game of the 2018/19 season.