Newport County vs Leicester City Predictions

Newport County’s form continued to suffer into the new year on Tuesday as they were beaten 1-0 at the hands of Stevenage, despite their opposition being reduced to 10 men in the first half.

This makes it 1 win, 3 draws, and 4 defeats for Newport in their last 8 competitive outings, with their only victory being their demolition of Wrexham in the FA Cup. Now they face a much tougher opponent in the cup though, and they will be hoping for some of that FA Cup magic to fall their way on Sunday.

Unfortunately for them, Leicester are coming into this match enjoying a good run of form. They kicked off 2019 with a 1-0 win away to Everton on Tuesday afternoon, bouncing back from their shock defeat to Cardiff to make it 3 wins from their last 4 outings.

In fact, The Foxes have only lost 3 of their last 14 games in normal time, although the fact that they have only won 5 of these shows that there is still some work to do for Claude Puel.

One thing Puel can be pleased about is their defensive stability at the moment. Leicester have only conceded 9 goals in these 14 games, which is a vast improvement from the side that shipped 15 goals in their 11 previous matches.

Of course, this newfound defensive steel has meant some sacrifice at the other end of the pitch, and the result has been more than a few low scoring games. A massive 13 of their last 14 competitive games have seen fewer than 3 goals scored in total, and they haven’t been involved in a high scoring game away from home since the middle of October.

Newport County do tend to be an attack minded side, but you imagine they won’t be risking too much going forward against Premier League opposition. Additionally, they have failed to score in their last 2 matches and 4 of their last 7 games at home have seen fewer than 3 goals in total.

Leicester’s record in cup competitions also implies that this could be a cagey affair. 10 of Leicester’s last 14 domestic cup matches have seen fewer than 3 goals, including all 3 Carabao Cup outings this season and all but 1 of their last 6 FA Cup ties. This makes these odds for Under 2.5 Goals look incredibly good value, so we’re backing that along with a 1-0 correct score predictions.