Friday Fox Hunt for the Baggies

West Bromwich Albion v Leicester City; The Hawthorns, Friday 26th September 2025, 8pm

Back-to-back defeats have somewhat dented the Baggies’ promising start to the season and Ryan Mason will be hoping his team can get back to winning ways on Friday night when Albion welcome Leicester City to the Hawthorns.

City, of course, were relegated from the Premier League last season and have started afresh under the stewardship of former QPR boss, Martí Cifuentes. The Foxes have a point more than Albion and sit in fourth place having beaten Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic, and drawn with Coventry City and Oxford United. Their only league defeat of the season came at Preston North End.

A big positive for Albion fans is that Jamie Vardy has left the King Power Stadium having scored eight goals in eleven appearances against the Baggies. He was one of a number of high profile departures following relegation, including Mads Hermansen, James Justin, Kasey McAteer, Wilfrid Ndidi and Conor Coady, while they made just two permanent signings, veteran goalkeeper Asmir Begović and Spanish stopper, Francisco Vieites, who joined after the window closed having been released by Real Betis last month. They did bring in three loan players in Argentinian striker, Julián Carranza, and Welshmen Jordan James and Aaron Ramsey.

Albion’s two defeats have both been down to small margins but it’s clear that their biggest problem has been in scoring goals, something that seems to have dogged the club for the last few years. Injuries to strikers have obviously played a part, but it is an issue that Mason needs to resolve quickly if the Baggies are to challenge for promotion.

It was encouraging that Heggebø got on the scoresheet last Friday, but many Albion fans are asking why Josh Maja hasn’t been given more of an opportunity if he is, as Mason has claimed, fit enough. He was the principal reason behind Albion’s good start last season albeit his primary provider from that period, Tom Fellows, is no longer with the club. From what I have seen of him when on the pitch, I’m not convinced he is that sharp just yet, but maybe he needs more minutes to get there.

Another player that fans are keen to see is Alfie Gilchrist. The youngster is the only natural right back available with George Campbell more suited to a centre back position and, while I feel he has been solid enough defensively, his delivery from wide areas has rarely been on the mark. I don’t believe Mason has felt that Gilchrist has been quite there from a fitness point of view up to now, but perhaps his debut may come soon.

One thing we definitely need to see against Leicester is the return of Mikey Johnston to the starting line up. While I understand that Mason opted to play an extra combative midfielder at Boro, it left Albion with no outlet on the left as Price naturally wanted to play closer to the middle of the park. Furthermore, Johnston is the only player who can create something out of nothing for the Baggies, and his involvement is paramount in my opinion.

With successive away games to come after this match, Albion really need to get three points in this match, but that won’t be easy. At least City are unlikely to come for a point so there should be a few gaps for Albion to exploit. Let’s just hope that it finally starts to click up top.

History

If you thought Derby County were a bogey side, I’m sorry to inform you that Leicester City have won on their last six visits to the Hawthorns, a run that started with that infamous match when Jamie Vardy scored the winner in stoppage time in April 2015 for the bottom-of-the-table Foxes to kick-start their own great escape which, of course, they followed up by winning the Premier League the following season.

Since then, Leicester have won 3-2 (again), 1-0, 4-1 and 3-0 and earned a 2-1 win on their last visit in December 2023 when Harry Winks scored in the 94th minute in a match that Albion had dominated.

The Baggies’ last home win over the Foxes was back in April 2010 when goals from James Morrison and Robert Koren (2) earned the hosts a 3-0 victory that put Roberto di Matteo’s side on the brink of promotion back to the Premier League, a feat that would be confirmed a week later at Doncaster.

Despite recent results, Albion still have the edge on the head-to-head record with 51 wins to 42, and their biggest home win in this fixture was in March 1965 when goals from Jeff Astle (2), Gerry Howshall, Clive Clark, Ken Foggo and Graham Williams saw the Baggies win 6-0.

Stat Attack

Current Form

All competitions; most recent game on the right

Last matches

Last meeting

20 Apr 2024 – League Championship
Leicester City 2 (Ndidi, Vardy)
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Wallace)

Last meeting at the Hawthorns

2 Dec 2023 – League Championship
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Maja)
Leicester City 2 (Dewsbury-Hall, Winks)

Last win

6 Nov 2016 – Premier League
Leicester City 1 (Slimani)
West Bromwich Albion 2 (Morrison, Phillips)

Last win at the Hawthorns

2 Apr 2010 – League Championship
West Bromwich Albion 3 (Morrison, Koren (2))
Leicester City 0

Albion’s Record against Leicester City