Premier League 24/25: Leicester squad, starting XI and odds

Now the 2024/25 Premier League season is mid-way through, Ladbrokes takes you through Leicester's squad, their chances of staying in the division and what their starting line-up is.

After getting relegated from the Premier League in May 2023, seven years after shocking the world to win England's top-flight, Leicester bounced straight back up after winning the Championship this year.

The Foxes could be hit with a points deduction for financial wrongdoing, which makes their season hard to predict. However, Leicester definitely have the talent in their ranks, both in terms of the coaches and players, to remain in the Premier League and beat the drop.

With all that said, Ladbrokes takes you through Leicester's squad for the current Premier League season, what we expect their starting line-up has looked like, and their odds of staying in the division.

Leicester's squad has not only undergone some changes from the side that were relegated from the Premier League last year, but also from the one that was promoted from the Championship back to England's top-flight earlier this year.

Below is the first team squad that, pending any major incomings or outgoings, Leicester expect to take into the forthcoming season.

• Danny Ward, Mads Hermansen, Daniel Iversen, Jakub Stolarczyk
• James Justin, Wout Faes, Conor Coady, Victor Kristiansen, Ricardo Pereira, Jannik Vestergaard, Luke Thomas, Caleb Okoli
• Harry Winks, Hamza Choudhury, Oliver Skipp, Boubakary Soumare, Wilfred Ndidi, Michael Golding, Bilal El Khannouss
• Abdul Fatawu, Jamie Vardy, Stephy Mavididi, Patson Daka, Kasey McAteer, Bobby Decordova-Reid, Facundo Buonanotte, Jordan Ayew, Odsonne Edouard
  

After coming up from the Championship, Leicester have completed six signings, despite needing to be financially responsible to comply for financial regulations.

Michael Golding has joined the club from Chelsea, with the young midfielder's move part of the deal which will see Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall playing his football at Stamford Bridge next season.

In what can only be described as an exciting move, Atalanta defender Caleb Okoli has joined Leicester. The young defender is highly-rated, and while being one for the future, could come straight into the side if needed.

Bobby Decordova-Reid has joined as a free agent to provide some much-needed Premier League experience after his contract with Fulham expired, whilst Abdul Fatawu's loan move from Sporting has been made permanent.

Also coming in with several years worth of experience in the Premier League is Jordan Ayew, who has joined Leicester from Crystal Palace, clearly seeking a fresh challenge.

Bilal El Khannouss is a player on the other end of the spectrum, with the young Moroccan midfielder signing on a permanent deal from Genk, both as one for now and for the future.

Facundo Buonanotte has also joined the club, but only on a loan deal, with Brighton keen to get the Argentinian winger playing regularly in the Premier League. Odsonne Edouard also joined from Crystal Palace, but unlike Ayew's move, this only is only a loan deal.

Oliver Skipp has also signed on a permanent deal from Tottenham, with the midfielder now keen to be playing regularly in England's top-flight. With one player in the middle of the park coming in, Leicester have left the highly-rated youngster Sammy Braybrooke leave for Dundee on loan for the season.

As for the other outgoings, things have been quiet for Leicester other than the sale of Dewsbury-Hall. Marc Albrighton, Kelechi Iheanacho and Dennis Praet all left on free transfers after their deals expired and Harry Souttar has joined Championship side Sheffield United in a loan deal. Lewis Brunt has moved to Wrexham on a permanent basis and Silko Thomas left for the season, joining Wigan on loan. Amani Richards and Brandon Cover have also left on loan, to Exeter and Port Vale respectively.

There were a ton more of loan moves completed on deadline day for Leicester, as Wanya Marcal, Chris Popov, Tom Cannon, Ben Nelson and Brad Young leaving for De Graafschap, Barrow, Stoke, Oxford and Hartlepool for the season.

Leaving on a permanent deal this time is Zach Booth, who has left the Premier League outfit on a full-time deal to play for Excelsior Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

In our 2024/25 Ipswich Premier League breakdown, we spoke about how it can be hard to predict how sides coming up from the Championship will line-up in the top-flight, and the same can be said for Leicester and even Southampton.

Mads Hermansen starts in goal, with James Justin and Victor Kristiansen will take up two of the four full-back slots. Ruud Van Nistelrooy has opted to play Jannik Vestergaard and Conor Coady as his centre-halves, clearly going for a more experienced duo.

Harry Winks will play when fit, but in his absnece, it's Wilfred Ndidi and Boubakary Soumare in the middle of the park.

As for the front four, either Ayew, Buonanotte or Fatawu will line up alongside El Khannouss as a nine, whilst the nine slot will be taken up by club icon Jamie Vardy.

Unfortunately for Leicester, the bookies are tipping them to go straight back down to the Championship, with the Foxes one of the favourites to get relegated from the Premier League next season.

A lot of that could be to do with their potential financial issues, rather than based on what they'll do on the pitch, but it seems like Leicester's spell in the Premier League could be short lived.

Interestingly, Man City are 12/1 to get relegated from the Premier League this year, and that's also likely because of the threat of a points deduction due to alleged financial wrongdoing.

Leicester had to wait until Monday night to play their first game of the Premier League season, which was a tricky home game against Tottenham, although that ended in a 1-1 draw.

On August 31, Leicester hosted Aston Villa at the King Power Stadium, losing that game 2-1, before a tough away trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal takes place on September 28, which ended in a hard-to-take 4-2 loss.

Relegation rivals Ipswich hosted Leicester on November 2, with game ending in a 1-1 draw. That came a week before the Foxes lost 3-0 against Man United at home.

The games keep coming thick and fast, as Leicester then played Chelsea on November 23, their first game after the final International break of 2024 and their first meeting with their former manager, with that ending in a 2-1 loss.

Liverpool then played Leicester on Boxing Day, which also happened in 2019,, with Jurgen Klopp's side winning the league just a few months later. The Foxes lost that game 3-1.

As if things couldn't have gotten any more difficult, a few days after playing Liverpool away from home, Leicester travelled back to the King Power Stadium to host Man City in their final game of the year, losing 2-0 on December 29.

Leicester played Arsenal again, this time at home, on February 15, with that game ending in a 2-0 loss thanks to a brace from Mikel Merino. The loss at the hands of the Gunners came before an away trip to Maresca's Chelsea takes place on March 8, which also ended in a 1-o defeat.

It's a tough period for Leicester, as the following week they played Man United at home, losing 3-0, before travelling up to Manchester to face Man City on April 2 at the Etihad Stadium.

A home game against Liverpool awaits on April 19, before a potentially huge game against fellow Premier League newcomers Southampton takes place at home on May 3.

In their final three games of the season, Leicester play Forest away from home, Ipswich the following week on May 18, and in the final game of the season, they travel to the Vitality Stadium to face Bournemouth.

Ladbrokes recently looked at the odds for each of the 20 teams competing in the Premier League this season, starting with Man City and working our way down to Ipswich and Southampton, who the bookies have given a 0.13% chance of winning England's top-flight come May 2025.

View the latest football odds.

All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.