TACTICAL PREVIEW: Open game played at pace could suit Town against Leicester

If you had to sum up Leicester City under Craig Shakespeare in one sentence, it'd be: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Having taken over after Claudio Ranieri was controversially shown the door, Shakespeare quickly set about undoing any and all changes the Italian had made in the time between their title success and his sacking, reverting them back as close as physically possible to the side who became champions. Reintegrating players who'd been sidelined and allowing them to operate in their tried and tested 4-4-2 once more, he helped turn around what was a poor campaign, breathing new life into their domestic aspirations.

This season is, of course, no different. Despite transfer business taking key players out of the club and large fees being paid for those on their way in, the Foxes are still a compact side who play on the break and rely on a flat 4-4-2 to get the best out of their star players. Their first eleven is fairly straight forward for now, with Kasper Schmeichel their undisputed number one between the sticks and Danny Simpson still at home at right-back, but regular left-back Christian Fuchs will miss out after a freak accident with a training pole has left him struggling with an eye injury. Twenty-year-old England youth team defender and former Huddersfield loanee Ben Chilwell will likely take his place, returning to the John Smith's for the first time since his eight game stint in 2015-16.

In the middle, there remain legitimate questions over Wes Morgan, and for just how long he can continue to be a first choice starter at this level. Having so clearly regressed last season, Leicester have more competition for his place now, especially with how well Harry Maguire has settled in to the side. One of their biggest, and most important, signings of the summer, the former Hull central defender has excelled in the midlands, earning himself an England call up as a result. A strange player - who physically resembles Michael Dawson but plays more like Leonardo Bonucci - he's somebody Town should keep careful watch of bringing the ball out of defence, as his distribution can cause problems when he's given the space and time to pick the right pass.

In the band of two ahead of the defence, Matty James and Wilfred Ndidi work in tandem, rarely leaving one another's side. They defend as a unit, move the ball between themselves and rarely venture too far beyond the halfway line in open play. Ndidi is the more capable of the two and gets through the majority of the work, but James has come back in to first team football admirably since missing 865 days of action through serious injury. They're far more about hard work than they are guile and creativity, but that works for Leicester - their entire philosophy is built on compartmentalising responsibility, therefore allowing each individual to play within their comfort zone without overextending themselves and being caught as a result. There are serious doubts over Matty James ahead of the match, however, as he's struggling with an Achilles injury. In his absence, new signing Vicente Iborra will likely step in, but the change is like-for-like and their playing style won't change as a result.

On the wings, Mark Albrighton plays more narrowly from the left, allowing Chilwell to overlap on his outside, while Riyad Mahrez is far more advanced, playing closer to Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy than the rest of the midfield. On paper, it looks somewhat lopsided and unbalanced, but in truth, the work Okazaki does dropping deeper plugs up most of the space that could otherwise be exploited. Mahrez is so good that he's afforded the luxury of not being as defensively minded as the rest of the team which, as their main creative outlet, only seems fair.

Off the shoulder of Okazaki, and constantly their furthest man forward, Jamie Vardy leads the line in a unique way. Rarely part of the build up, the England forward has carved out a niche for himself buzzing around defences, chasing balls played over the top and using his pace to make the most of opportunities that fall to him down the channels. He will give the Town defenders little to no time to settle in possession, while having the positional sense to know when and how to exploit any spare space afforded to him. What he does isn't new, or particularly intelligent football - but that doesn't remove from its effectiveness.

In reserve, there is a small chance that either Kelechi Ihaenacho or Islam Slimani are given the nod over Shinji Okazaki, but this isn't the sort of game where Shakespeare is likely to experiment with their winning formula. Andy King and Demarai Gray are pushing both Vicente Iborra and Mark Albrighton respectively, but there seems to be a comfort in introducing them off the bench, rather than changing what they do from the start. Having played some minutes in midweek for the under 23s, Robert Huth could soon be the player who takes Wes Morgan's place from him, but it's hard to see the Leicester captain being relegated to the bench just yet.

Town should be most careful of Leicester on the break, and will do well not to leave themselves overly exposed defensively when they've attacking set plays. No more comfortable and confident than when they can launch a counter attack through Mahrez and Vardy, the less open ground Huddersfield allow their opponents, the better. It might also be a consideration to amend how they play through the defence, too, and speed up their transition from Schindler and Zanka to Mooy and Billing - one poor ball across the back four or a heavy touch at the wrong moment is exactly what the Foxes like to hunt down, so Town should be mindful of being their own worst enemy.

In attack, the partnership of Morgan and Simpson is by far the most vulnerable aspect of the Leicester defence. Both players are, with all due respect, fairly limited footballers, and are often left exposed by Riyad Mahrez and his laissez-faire approach to tracking back. There's good chance that Tom Ince will drift left this week to make room for Abdelhamid Sabiri to make his full competitive debut through the middle, especially with Kasey Palmer ruled out for the foreseeable future. Should they play it right, both Mooy and Billing should be able to find room to operate between the lines where neither Vardy or Okazaki will look to press, and too high for either Iborra or Ndidi to rush them.

In light of the West Ham defeat and Wagner's clear annoyance at how ineffectively Town handled themselves on the attacking end, you'd expect this performance to be a reaction to that. Leicester have only won once this season and shown themselves to be susceptible to multifaceted attacks that come in an unpredictable and accelerated manner, which is exactly how Huddersfield operate when at their best. Steve Mounie should be able to engage their central defenders in physical battles, and draw them out position at will, opening space for Ince, Kachunga and Sabiri to exploit.

Likely to be an open game given how both sides like to play, Town fans should take heart knowing how much better their team fares against side who also like to get the ball down on the deck and play. This, of course, was far from the case against West Ham, who spent the majority of Monday night hoofing the ball as far as they could manage. Leicester's biggest strength - being extremely good at operating in their desired formation - is also their biggest weakness, because team's know exactly what is coming for them. David Wagner and his backroom staff are more than good enough to have analysed and prepared for that, with training likely to have focused on how they best feel the Foxes can be nullified in attack and opened up defensively - only time will tell how effective those decisions will be once the sides take the field.

You can follow Raj Bains on Twitter over on @BainsXIII , and his Huddersfield Town book Underdog is being published in October 2017. It is available to order now, with the opportunity to have the name of your choice printed in a fans list at the back of the book. Please visit www.gnbooks.co.uk or call 01274 735056.