Four nailed-on starters and four 50-50 calls – Leicester City opening-day line-up: View

How Leicester City could set up against Tottenham on the opening day of the new Premier League season with just one more pre-season game for Steve Cooper to prepare his side

Just two weeks and one friendly remain until Steve Cooper picks his first competitive line-up as Leicester City manager.

City travel to Lens this weekend and as the dress rehearsal for the new campaign, the 11 should be close to the team Cooper is thinking of selecting for the Premier League curtain-raiser against Tottenham. But who will be in that line-up?

We’ve had a month to analyse Cooper’s system and preferences, so we’ve put together a list of nailed-on starters, likely inclusions, and 50-50 decisions ahead of the fixture with Spurs. Transfers over the next fortnight may see plans tweaked, but right now, this is how City are expected to set up.

Nailed-on starters

Thankfully, Enzo Maresca and Chelsea went elsewhere in their goalkeeper search, meaning City still have Mads Hermansen as their number one. Only injury or suspension will stop him from starting between the sticks in the Premier League this season.

Last season, Harry Winks started every Championship game but the one he was suspended for, and Cooper looks to be taking a similar approach this coming season. Winks was captain in City’s latest friendly against Augsburg and will be starting against his boyhood club Tottenham in a fortnight’s time.

Even if City do get some attacking players through the door between now and the start of the season, Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu’s places do not feel at risk. They are City’s leading creative forces at the moment, and while the team have been struggling to fashion opportunities in recent pre-season outings, taking either out is not going to do them any favours.

Whether he plays as the full-back who tucks into a back three, or as the full-back who gets forward to support the attack, it feels like James Justin will be in the side. He can play both roles, and can do so on either flank, and that versatility means he’s likely to play.

It would be odd if Ricardo Pereira was left out, given his importance to the team last season. He’s been used in a couple of positions this pre-season and it’s not yet clear where Cooper feels he can be best utilised.

The presence of Victor Kristiansen means neither Justin nor Ricardo are certainties to start, with the Dane hoping to force one of them out and get his place back in the City team following his year on loan at Bologna. If he plays, he will definitely be in the attacking full-back role.

Wilfred Ndidi is also likely to start. There’s a spot next to Winks up for grabs and while Boubakary Soumare and Hamza Choudhury are in with a shout, it feels like it’s Ndidi’s to lose.

50-50 calls

The two centre-back positions really are up for grabs. Wout Faes and Jannik Vestergaard were the starters last season, but their late returns to pre-season has opened the door for Conor Coady and Caleb Okoli to make an impression.

Coady seems to have particularly made a mark on Cooper, having been named captain on a couple of occasions. It feels like it’s him or Vestergaard to start, and not both. And so that’s true of Faes and Okoli too, with one space available between them.

As the only senior player who has played as a number 10 relatively frequently, Bobby De Cordova-Reid is the favourite to start there, with Michael Golding and Will Alves seemingly not deemed ready. However, Cooper has the option of moving Mavididi or Ndidi into the 10 role and bringing Soumare or Kasey McAteer into the side, while if there is to be a transfer in the next two weeks, it seems most likely it will be in attacking midfield, and so a new recruit could push out De Cordova-Reid.

Up front, it’s really a matter of Jamie Vardy’s fitness. He’s played less than an hour in pre-season because of the knock he sustained against Villarreal, and if he doesn’t get any minutes at Lens either, then it would be a big surprise if he was thrown straight in to start against Spurs. In that case, Patson Daka, and not Tom Cannon will lead the line on the opening day.