Bristol City predicted team vs Leicester as injuries and suspension in play

CommentsSportopinionDaniel Carter07:00, 10 Mar 2026Depending upon which side of the fence you sit, it is either a blessing or a curse just how quickly games come around in the Championship. As they head to Leicester City tonight, after a difficult spell, Bristol City will be hoping it is the latter.

The Robins' trip to the King Power Stadium comes with the Reds in the midst of their worst run of form under Gerhard Struber. In the last two weeks, City's FA Cup campaign has come to an end against League One's bottom side, and back-to-back league defeats have left them seven points adrift of the top six.

Struber's side suffered their third consecutive defeat just days ago when Coventry City ran out 2-0 winners at Ashton Gate on Saturday afternoon. First-half goals from Sakamoto and Haji Wright ensured that, despite an improved performance, the Reds left BS3 empty-handed.

For this evening's opponents, the weekend was marginally more fruitful, even if perhaps just as frustrating. Leicester extended their own winless run to 11 games in all competitions as they drew with Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

Gary Rowett's side had found themselves ahead against the Tractor Boys when Patson Daka fired home with his left foot late in the first half, but Sindre Walle Egeli's strike 14 minutes from full-time ensured that the Foxes would be spending a few more days in the relegation zone.

Given Leicester's league position, City will head to the West Midlands as favourites. While such a tag may be reinforced by the potential of Ross McCrorie, who the Reds hope will be fit again after missing the weekend's defeat with a hamstring injury, the Robins will be without Adam Randell, after he was sent off against the Sky Blues.

Without the 25-year-old, just how will Struber set up his side? We'll have to wait until 6:30pm to be sure, but until then, here is how we think the Robins will line-up against Leicester City...

We imagine that if you were to ask Radek Vitek, the Bristol City goalkeeper would have been disappointed not to have done more to keep out Coventry City's opener at the weekend, having seemingly managed to get a reasonable hand on Sakamoto's header.

While having your mistakes highlighted and your good work forgotten is part and parcel of being a goalkeeper, it is worth noting that the Manchester United loanee made several good saves on either side of the Sky Blues' two goals to keep Gerhard Struber's side in the contest. Even if he hadn't, we'd be fairly confident in suggesting that he'll start between the posts against Leicester City this evening, with Joe Lumley taking a place on the bench.

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Ahead of the 22-year-old, it is hard to see Struber moving too far, if at all, away from the back three that he has utilised in the absence of Rob Atkinson and Rob Dickie: George Tanner on the right, Neto Borges on the left and Noah Eile in the centre.

By the Robins boss' own admission, the plan was never for Eile - or likely Tanner and Borges, for that matter - to play this much football in such a role. However, with such an extensive injury list and no obvious youth prospects waiting in the wings, it is hard to see how City can mix things up.

The only real alternative would be to start Cam Pring in a deeper position. Although that is, of course, a possibility, we think the academy graduate will likely start on the bench after a difficult run of form.

When it comes to just who starts in central midfield for Bristol City at the King Power Stadium, this is the first time since he arrived at Ashton Gate that Adam Randell's name hasn't been in the mix. The former Plymouth Argyle man's suspension will mean that he isn't included in a Reds' matchday squad for the first time this term.

However, when one door closes, another opens. Randell's absence will likely allow one of Sam Morsy or Max Bird to step into the middle of the park and partner Jason Knight against the Foxes, with it likely the Robins skipper will keep his place after showing signs of getting back to his usual self recently.

Gerhard Struber may well view Morsy as the safer pair of hands and start the 34-year-old, but we're going to go out on a limb and back Bird to make his first league start of the season.

The former Derby County man has slowly been building his minutes since he returned from injury last month. After managing an hour of action away to Port Vale last week, he should be ready and able to step into the fold at Leicester.

Either side of City's midfield pairing, just who gets the nod at wing-back will likely hinge on the fitness of Ross McCrorie. If the Scotsman isn't ready, as hoped, to feature, we wouldn't be surprised if Cam Pring and Mark Sykes were to keep their places on the left and right, respectively, with Seb Naylor seemingly not yet viewed as an option from the off, in the league.

Given the recent negativity around BS3, however, we're going to opt to take an optimistic approach. Our bet that McCrorie will start, but on the left, in place of Pring, while Sykes will remain on the right.

Just to make sure we cover all of our bases, we will add that it wouldn't come as a total shock if George Earthy started ahead of the Ireland international, after a reasonable cameo at the weekend.

Before we even begin to consider the names likely to be included in Bristol City's front three in the East Midlands tonight, we must first attempt to predict which combination Gerhard Struber will opt for. Will it be one number 10 and two strikers? Or two 10s and a sole centre-forward?

This time around, we'll go with the latter, as that - if memory serves - has been the system used more often, and more successfully, away from Ashton Gate.

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It would come as a shock to most if those two attacking midfielders weren't Tomi Horvat and Scott Twine. The former was withdrawn early against Coventry in part so that he could feature this evening, and the latter should be fresh and ready to make an impact after starting on the bench on Saturday.

Ahead of that duo, it feels like a toss-up between Sinclair Armstrong and Emil Riis, with Delano Burgzorg and Sam Bell a way away from pipping either striker to a starting role, you'd have to assume.

Our gut feeling is that it will be Riis who gets the nod. The Dane remains the more likely to find the back of the net - something City have struggled to do regularly in recent weeks - and has combined well with Horvat and Twine away from Ashton Gate since the winter window, see the wins over Hull City and Blackburn Rovers.

With the quick turnaround to Saturday's early kick-off against Middlesbrough, Armstrong will have a part to play from the bench, as will Burgzorg, Bell, and anyone else left out of the starting line-up.

Bristol City predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Radek Vitek; George Tanner, Noah Eile, Neto Borges; Mark Sykes, Max Bird, Jason Knight, Ross McCrorie; Tomi Horvat, Scott Twine; Emil Riis