Good evening and welcome to live coverage of Manchester City versus Leicester City in the Premier League. Teams will follow shortly.

One intriguing sub-plot to tonight’s game is a clash of the early contenders for Footballer of the Year. Jamie Vardy is having a post-grad party, having scored 16 times in 17 Premier League games. Across the pitch, Kevin De Bruyne is having quite the season despite Manchester City’s relative struggles. His nine assists this season are the most in the league, and he’s also bagged six goals to boot.

The omens aren’t too bad for Manchester City. Since that famous defeat in 2015-16 they have won all three home Premier League fixtures against Leicester, including the 1-0 victory in May where Vincent Kompany's screamer helped propel Manchester City to the title.

Tonight we should find out just how serious a contender Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester team are for the Premier League title this season. Liverpool will still be seven points clear with a game in hand if Leicester win tonight but flinched from a similar position last January, and their next league game is a visit to the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day. Leicester are on a great run, having won eight and drawn one of their last nine league games. They’re in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup too but have no European football to distract them in the second half of the season. Leicester have already pulled off one miraculous title victory in the last four years; can they possibly win tonight to give themselves a punchers chance at another?

This is a huge game for Manchester City. Anything but a win here and will almost certainly end their already remote hopes of hooking in Liverpool in the New Year and completing a hat-trick of Premier League titles. Pep Guardiola’s team dropped just 14 points on their way to victory in 2017-18, and only 16 last season. They’ve lost 16 already in this one, and now have no margin for error in their league campaign.

It’s third against second in the Premier League, in a match that will be a bellwether to determine if we can expect a title race this year. Liverpool will not be looking on with interest; they have a concurrent fixture in Doha, Qatar as they take on Flamengo in the Fifa World Club Cup final. While they’re bidding to become world champions, Manchester City and Leicester will be looking to close their respective gaps on Liverpool.

In February 2016 Leicester travelled to face Manchester City at the Etihad and pulled off a 3-1 victory that put them five points clear at the top of the Premier League table. It was a landmark moment in their astonishing 2015-16 title victory. Now, the stakes for both clubs are different. If Leicester can bag an away win tonight they’ll go seven points clear of defending champions Manchester City; they’ll also reduce the gap to league leaders Liverpool to seven points.

The visitors also make a couple of changes from their team that drew 1-1 with Norwich. Iheanacho and Praet are left out today, replaced by Barnes and Perez.

There are two changes for Manchester City from their 3-0 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates last Sunday. Foden and Rodrigo drop to the bench, while Bernardo Silva and Mahrez return to the side.

Leicester City (4-3-3): Schmeichel (c); Ricardo, Evans, Soyuncu, Chilwell; Ndidi, Tielemans, Maddison; Barnes, Perez, Vardy

SUBS: Ward, Justin, Morgan, Gray, Albrighton, Iheanacho, Praet

Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Fernandinho (c), Otamendi, Mendy; Gundogan, De Bruyne, Bernardo; Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus, Sterling

SUBS: Bravo, Aguero, Zinchenko, Rodrigo, Cancelo, Foden, Garcia