Preview: Cheltenham Town vs. Leicester City – prediction, team news, lineups

Both looking to move one step closer to an unlikely piece of silverware this season, Cheltenham Town and Leicester City meet in the FA Cup third round on Saturday afternoon.

The Robins picked up a much-needed win in League Two last time out, while the Foxes are attempting to make up lost ground in the Championship promotion race.

Match preview

After a three-year spell in the third tier of English football came to an end at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, Cheltenham Town have been languishing in the middle of League Two, with another term of mid-table mediocrity on the cards.

That being said, the Robins enjoyed one of their biggest wins of the season last time out on Sunday afternoon, when strikes from Hakeeb Adelakun, Jordan Thomas and Robbie Cundy sealed a 3-0 success over Crawley Town.

Collecting a respectable tally of three points from two matches since the turn of the new calendar year, Steve Cotterill‘s troops are currently occupying 18th spot in the League Two standings, a sizeable 10 points back from seventh-placed Chesterfield.

Unbeaten across their last six competition matches at the EV Charger Points Stadium (W4 D2), Cheltenham should be quietly confident of posing the Championship visitors an issue, with the Robins last losing on home soil in early November to Notts County.

Saturday afternoon will bring Cheltenham’s third consecutive home match in this season’s FA Cup, with the fourth-tier side squeezing past Bradford City in the first round before smashing National League North team Buxton 6-2 to book a date with the Foxes.

© Imago

Following back-to-back defeats either side of the Christmas Day to Queens Park Rangers and in-form Watford, Leicester City have put their top-six charge back on track, winning two of their past three Championship battles.

The latest of those triumphs sentenced the end of Ryan Mason’s time as West Bromwich Albion head coach on Monday night, when the visiting Baggies were left to rue missed chances when Abdul Fatawu volleyed home a 94th-minute winner.

Despite being largely undeserving of maximum points at the King Power Stadium earlier in the week, under-pressure Marti Cifuentes will take what he can get at the moment, especially with a potential points deduction looming over the King Power Stadium.

Losing each of their last two away matches by an aggregate scoreline of 7-2, Leicester are looking for a more positive experience on the road against their League Two hosts this weekend, with the Foxes last travelling to Cheltenham for a 2-1 friendly win in July 2019.

Unlike many of the teams competing in the third round, Leicester have recent prestige in the FA Cup, with a Youri Tielemans wonder strike at Wembley Stadium allowing Brendan Rodgers’s men to lift the famous trophy in 2020-21.

Cheltenham Town FA Cup form:

W W 

Cheltenham Town all competitions form:

D W W L L W

Leicester City all competitions form:

W L L W L W

Team News

© Imago

After netting an effort during Cheltenham’s comfortable win over Crawley on the weekend, attacker Adelakun has secured an upwards move to third-tier Doncaster Rovers.

The Robins have suffered further woes in the January transfer window in the form of leading goalscorer Isaac Hutchinson, who has been recalled by parent club Bristol Rovers.

Leicester are set to be without the services of loanee Aaron Ramsey once again, with the attacking midfielder picking up another hamstring problem.

Cifuentes is likely to shuffle his starting pack following a hectic festive period, meaning that the likes of Patson Daka, Louis Page and Silko Thomas could enter the XI.

The visitors are battling on without the talents of Boubakary Soumare (knee), Harry Souttar (ankle) and Victor Kristiansen (knee).

Cheltenham Town possible starting lineup:

Day; Tomkinson, Cundy, Wilson; Stevenson, Jude-Boyd, Young, Kinsella, Thomas; Bickerstaff, Miller

Leicester City possible starting lineup:

Begovic; Pereira, Vestergaard, Nelson, L Thomas; James, Skipp, S Thomas, Page, Mavididi; Daka

We say: Cheltenham Town 1-3 Leicester City

After losing two key attacking players early in the January window, Cheltenham have endured a difficult period of preparation ahead of the former Premier League champions visiting.

The Foxes are an inconsistent mess in the Championship this term but should have enough quality to ease past the Robins and into the fourth round of the FA Cup.