Leicester vs. Brentford Predictions: Christian Eriksen and Ivan Toney can cause Foxes problems

Attention may be fixed on the FA Cup quarter-finals on Sunday, but over in the Premier League there are two matches to look forward to, including the focus of this article: Leicester vs Brentford, 2pm at the King Power...

Leicester have struggled for consistency all season. They are down in 12th, suffered an early group stage exit in the Europa League, and the defence of their FA Cup came to an abrupt halt in the fourth round.

Four wins on the spin have been punctured by consecutive defeats to Arsenal and Rennes; their season in a nutshell. Although, on the plus side the Foxes did book their place in the Europa League Conference quarter-finals on Thursday night despite losing 2-1 to Rennes. The short-turnaround in fixtures means Brendan Rodgers could well tinker with his line-up on Sunday, so expect changes.

Back-to-back wins over relegation rivals Norwich and Burnley have boosted Brentford’s survival hopes following a torrid run which returned one point from eight games. A win on Sunday would even draw them level with Leicester on 33 points and could see them knock on the door of the top-10.

Brentford can be backed at 5/2 to come away with the three points, with a draw available at the same price, while Leicester are the 63/50 favourites for the win.

It’s great to see Christian Eriksen back in the Premier League. The former Spurs player has played three times for Brentford so far; once as a substitute in the 2-0 defeat to Newcastle, followed by starts in the 3-1 win at Norwich and the 2-0 win against Burnley.

The Dane, who is back in Denmark’s squad, has a 100% winning record when starting for Brentford and has three shots, one on target, and an assist on the board; whipping in a delightful pin-point cross for Ivan Toney’s opener last weekend. 

Eriksen is already a key cog in Thomas Frank’s side and his flourishing partnership with Toney has been central to Brentford’s sudden revival. His arrival has lifted the whole club and there’s no reason why the Bees can’t go on and claim their third consecutive win for the first time ever in the Premier League.

The assist in his last game took Eriksen’s tally to 63 in the Premier League, which puts him 18th in the all-time list, more than the likes of Paul Scholes, Eden Hazard, and Mesut Ozil. Another assist will draw him level with Alan Shearer and Gareth Barry, which we’re backing him to do so against Leicester this weekend at 17/5 (BetVictor).

Staying with the Christian Eriksen theme, we’ve had a little gander at the shots on target (SOT) market and put together a 6/1 treble, courtesy of bet365.

Eriksen had two shots in his last game, including one SOT, and can be backed at 6/5 to register another shot on goal this weekend.

Teammate Ivan Toney has been in excellent form of late, scoring five goals from five SOT in his last two games alone. Toney has 11 goals to his name this season and 25 SOT, and will undoubtedly cause a wobbly Leicester defence all sorts of problems at the King Power. He’s priced at 11/10 to have over 1.5 SOT.

Finally, we’re adding Harvey Barnes into the mix to form a treble, with the midfielder available at 8/15 to have over 0.5 SOT this weekend. The direct winger has had 16 shots in his last four league games, recording two SOT in each of his last three.