Three aspects of Leicester City's current system without Jamie Vardy for Leeds United to look out for

Jon Mackenzie runs All Stats Aren’t We, a Leeds United media channel that focuses on the tactical and statistical aspects of the game.

There won’t be many Leeds fans who are relishing the opportunity of facing Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City, especially after Leeds went down to a 4-1 loss at Elland Road earlier in the season.

As things stand, Leicester sit two points off the top of the table and, although who knows what will eventually transpire this season, will be aiming for a top-four finish.

With Jamie Vardy out for a few weeks because of a routine hernia operation, Leicester feel a little less daunting than they perhaps could.

But this is still a tough fixture for Leeds.

Here are three aspects of Brendan Rodgers’ system to look out for on Sunday:

Replacing Vardy

Jamie Vardy summarily deconstructed the Leeds United defence when Leicester visited Elland Road in November.

Vardy’s absence can only be a good thing, then. But the way that Rodgers chooses to solve the conundrum of how to replace him will be interesting.

Against Everton, he used Ayoze Perez, who played as more of a second striker, dropping in deep and allowing Barnes and Marc Albrighton to run into space ahead of him.

With Everton denying Leicester space, this didn’t play out well. Leeds will no doubt allow more inroads in this regard. But we could see Kelechi Iheanacho given a chance.

Wide spaces

The 4-2-3-1 formation employed by Brendan Rodgers relies on the full-backs to progress the ball.

With Timothy Castagne and James Justin, Leicester offer a lot of threat through this position. However, in pushing forward, they leave space in behind: space that is able to be exploited by opposition wide players.

This will present a good opportunity to Raphinha and Jack Harrison.

They haven’t been afforded much space in the Premier League this season. Will they make the most of it?

Different system

This season, Brendan Rodgers has set up his side to play two different systems: a more defensive 3-4-3, like the one we saw at Elland Road, and a more proactive 4-2-3-1.

At the King Power Stadium on Sunday, it’s more likely that Rodgers will revert to the more attacking 4-2-3-1.

Last time around, Leicester caused Leeds a lot of problems by using the structure of the 3-4-3 to press them in wide areas and stymy their build up play.

The 4-2-3-1 will likely afford Leeds more scope going forward. But how will their defence cope with the attacking threat of Harvey Barnes and James Maddison in this more expansive system?

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Thank you Laura Collins