Sports Mole previews Tuesday’s EFL Cup clash between Leicester City and Tranmere Rovers, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Still searching for his first competitive win as Leicester City manager, Steve Cooper will hope that the third time is the charm when his side host Tranmere Rovers in Tuesday’s EFL Cup second-round clash.
The Foxes welcome their League Two counterparts to the King Power Stadium on the back of losing 2-1 to Fulham in the Premier League, while their visitors already have one 3-0 win to their name in this year’s League Cup.
Match preview
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After making Tottenham Hotspur lament their wasted openings in a creditable opening-day draw, a desired sense of deja vu was briefly present for Leicester against Fulham, who also initially failed to build on Emile Smith Rowe‘s fine opener on Saturday.
With Fulham not able to convert their dominance into a second goal before the break, Wout Faes rose highest to head the Foxes level at a wet Craven Cottage, only for another former Arsenal product in Alex Iwobi to restore Fulham’s slender lead in the second period.
The narrow reverse in West London was particularly agonising for Cooper, who felt that Leicester deserved to travel back to the King Power with at least a share of the spoils, albeit while also ruing two untimely defensive lapses for Smith Rowe and Iwobi’s strikes.
As Leicester’s pursuit of their first top-flight win goes on, Cooper and co now bid to live up to their favourites tag in the EFL Cup, a competition that Leicester have won three times down the years but not since the 1999-00 edition, where none other than Tranmere were their victims in the final.
Since lifting the League Cup aloft at the Old Wembley three years ago, a semi-final exit to Aston Villa in 2019-20 has been Leicester’s best showing in the competition, although it has been a decade since the 2015-16 Premier League champions were eliminated in the second round.
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It comes as no surprise to learn that Tranmere have never been close to reaching the EFL Cup final again since that fateful day against Leicester 24 years ago, only making it past the second round in one of their last 19 appearances in the competition, losing to Stoke City in round three in 2013-14.
Each of Tranmere’s last two EFL Cup forays have seen the League Two outfit eliminated at this stage, but Nigel Adkins‘s men have already laid down some early markers in league and cup action this term, thrashing Accrington Stanley 3-0 in round one of this tournament.
With three games gone in the 2024-25 League Two campaign, Tuesday’s visitors are incredibly the only side yet to concede a goal, playing out goalless stalemates with Port Vale and Notts County before Omari Patrick‘s early effort sealed a 1-0 win over Walsall on Saturday.
A 3-1 loss to Everton’s Under-21s in the EFL Trophy has been the only major blot on the notebook for Adkins so far, with Tranmere otherwise showcasing their defensive prowess at every opportunity, albeit without the ruthlessness at the other end of the pitch to match.
As well as locking horns in the 1999-00 final, Leicester and Tranmere coincidentally clashed at this exact stage of last year’s EFL Cup, where second-half strikes from Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy propelled the Foxes to a straightforward 2-0 victory at Prenton Park.
Leicester City form (all competitions):
Tranmere Rovers EFL Cup form:
Tranmere Rovers form (all competitions):
Team News
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Leicester’s painful loss to Fulham saw both Oliver Skipp and Jordan Ayew make their debuts off the bench following their arrivals from Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace respectively, and both will now be in consideration for their maiden starts.
Once again, Cooper will be without Patson Daka and Jakub Stolarczyk due to serious ankle injuries, while Conor Coady will need a couple more weeks to recover from a thigh issue. Luke Thomas (fitness) is the closest to returning but remains uncertain for Tuesday.
The Foxes boss has kept faith with the same starting lineup for both Premier League games so far this term, but a raft of alterations can be expected in the EFL Cup, where Danny Ward, Caleb Okoli and Kasey McAteer will also be among those vying for promotion from the bench.
However, Tranmere cannot call upon such depth due to a hefty injury list, which includes new signings Declan Drysdale and Sam Finley, as well as Luke Norris, Zak Bradshaw, Sam Taylor and Josh Hawkes.
None of the injured sextet should be back in time for the trip to the King Power, but Adkins at least has Jordan Turnbull back from his own fitness concern, otherwise the visitors would not be able to field a full four-man defence.
Kristian Dennis and Sol Solomon can both provide fresh legs in the final third, and the latter may come into Adkins’s thinking after setting up his side’s third in their first-round thrashing of Accrington Stanley.
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Ward; Pereira, Okoli, Vestergaard, Kristiansen; Skipp, Soumare; McAteer, Bounanotte, Mavididi; Ayew
Tranmere Rovers possible starting lineup:
Murphy; Norman, Walker, Davies, Turnbull; Jennings, Hendry, Williams, Patrick; Davison, Saunders
We say: Leicester City 3-0 Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere’s exceptional defensive streak amid their early-season injury crisis has been nothing short of magnificent, but they will almost certainly come unstuck at the King Power.
Even with a rotated squad, Leicester – who have been Tranmere’s chief EFL Cup nemesis since the turn of the millennium – should advance to round three without breaking too much of a sweat.
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