BRENDAN RODGERS will surely be relieved to play a club in a worse predicament than his Leicester City side when the Foxes travel to Gillingham on FA Cup duty on Saturday lunchtime.
Before the World Cup break, it looked like Leicester were beginning to pick up some form after four wins in a row with two of them in the Premier League.
But it's been back to the same old story for City after the resumption of the league and they have lost three on the bounce to Newcastle United, Liverpool and Fulham, with the latest setback this week seeing their fed-up fans jeering the former English champions from the pitch.
They are in real danger of being sucked into a relegation dogfight and it's been a struggle this season.
They have been handed what should be a penalty kick, on paper anyway, with a visit to Kent to play the bottom side in the English league when they face Gillingham.
The Gills have just been the subject of a takeover and manager Neil Harris – the former Millwall legend – is clinging onto his job following two league wins all season, the last of which came on October 1.
In the FA Cup, Gillingham eased aside non-league teams AFC Flyde and Dagenham and Redbridge, but this is a different proposition.
How the bookies view it
Leicester City are around about the 1/6 mark generally, although you can get a bit of 3/14 with SBK.
Gillingham are 16/1 with Coral and the draw is 6/1 with 10Bet.
Recent head to heads
The sides were last in the same league 18 years ago and Gillingham won the last encounter at Priestfield in a Championship clash.
Players to watch
Gillingham striker Scott Kashket has scored three goals for Gillingham this season including in the FA Cup and he is as good as any of the home players to net on Saturday. The striker is 7/1 with bet365 to net.
Jamie Vardy drew a blank against Fulham in midweek, but the former non-league striker should know about this level and is 22/25 to score with UniBet.
Anything else catch the eye?
As bad as they have been, Leicester really should make light work of the worst side in the English leagues. Gillingham have scored just seven league goals in 23 games – 11 behind their nearest competitors.
Even taking account for the old magic of the cup romance and all that, Leicester surely should be good enough to win to nil and a generous 5/6 with 888Sport.
Gillingham only lost 2-0 to Wolves in the Carabao Cup recently, but Leicester usually have goals about them and with Gillingham coming out more at home, the visitors should be able to pick them off. Try Paddy Power's 13/8 on the -2 handicap.
This FA Cup match between Gillingham and Leicester City will be played on Jan 7, 2023 and kick off at 12:30. Check below for our tipsters best Gillingham vs Leicester City prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
