Why does Leicester vs Manchester City start at 2:30pm on Sunday? Premier League clash to start earlier

Manchester City travel to face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium at a very unusual time this Sunday afternoon.

pep guardiolaThe team continued their poor run on Boxing Day when they drew at home to Everton, making it one win in 13 games.

Guardiola, who will take charge of his 500th game as city ​​man boss here, you have never witnessed such a barren streak in your career.

City are seventh in the Premier League and their chances of winning a fifth consecutive title are already almost dead.

But they will still feel that they can change things and leicester could be the perfect opponent to start with as the Foxes sit 18th after losing three in a row.

Leicester vs Man City: start time

This Premier League clash will be played on Sunday, December 29.

Kick-off at the King Power Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 pm, which is a very unusual start time.

Normally, in the top flight calendar, matches are held at 12:30, 3, 5:30 or 8:00 p.m.

On Sunday, the first game of the day will be this one at 2:30 p.m., half an hour before four other games.

There is no official reason for this change, but it has probably been made to accommodate Sky Sports' television coverage, avoiding a clash between West Ham and West Ham. Liverpool at 5:15 p.m.

Both games will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League this weekend.

On top of this, the festive period often has some strange start dates and times due to the busy schedule.

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• Leicester have lost 11 of their last 13 Premier League games against Manchester City (W2), while they have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last 15 against the Citizens (W4 L11).
• Manchester City have won their last four Premier League away games against Leicester without conceding a single goal. In their league history, they have never won five straight away games against an opponent while keeping a clean sheet each time.
• Manchester City have won 19 of their last 20 Premier League games against newly promoted teams (D1), including each of the last 10 in a row. The last time they had a longer winning streak was between December 2009 and December 2011 (12).

Leicester vs Man City: talkSPORT coverage

talkSPORT will have EXCLUSIVE live coverage of the game.

Adrian Durham will be your host and commentary will be provided by Sam Matterface and former England captain Stuart Pearce.

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 via the website, click HERE for the live stream.

You can also listen through the talkSPORT appon DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

talkSPORT.com will also keep you updated on our dedicated Premier League live blog here.

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• Leicester have only lost their last league game in one of the last five calendar years (W3 D1), losing 2-1 to Liverpool in 2022. This is the first time they have faced the reigning top-flight champions in a match of this type. since 1974, and a 2-0 home defeat against Leeds United.
• Manchester City have only lost their last league game in one of the last 23 calendar years (12 wins and 10 draws), losing 1-0 to Liverpool in 2016.
• Leicester have lost 4-0, 3-0 and 3-1 in their last three Premier League games. They haven't lost four in a row and have conceded multiple goals each time since a streak of five in September/October 2003.

Leicester vs Man City: team news

Leicester will still be without goalkeeper Mads Hermansen as he remains sidelined with an injury.

But substitute Jakub Stolarczyk impressed at Anfield last time out and Ruud van Nistelrooy You will be sure that he will intervene again.

Jaime Vardy He missed the Liverpool game and remains a doubt, while Wilfred Ndidi and Abdul Fatawu will remain out.

As for Manchester City, Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker Both were not in the squad for the draw against Everton.

Walker was ill and Grealish wasn't fully fit, so they again have doubts, adding to City's injury woes.

Juan PiedrasRubén Días, Matheus Nunes, ederson, Rodri and Oscar Bobb still have no problems.

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• As a player, Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy lost three of his six Premier League games against Manchester City (W1 D2), his highest defeat rate against any team he has faced more than twice in the league. competition (50%).
• Manchester City have lost seven of their last eight away games in all competitions (D1), having been unbeaten in 21 away games before this one. It is their longest winless streak away from home since a streak of 10 between January and April 2011.
• Manchester City have dropped 12 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, more than in all of 2023-24 (10). In fact, under Pep Guardiola they have only lost more points of this type in 2020-21 and 2022-23 (both 13).

Leicester vs Man City: What has been said?

Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji he focuses on the positives even though his team continued their dismal form last time out.

“The season is not over,” he said after the draw against Everton.

“We need to concentrate game by game and the next game against city ​​of leicester It won't be easy now either, the way we are.

“We need to focus on the positives, we did a lot of great things, we defended well and we attacked well.

“But we couldn't finish as well as we wanted or we could have scored three or four goals.”