Leicester vs Chelsea - as it happened: Marcos Alonso and Pedro help return Blues to winning ways

Re-live all the action from the King Power Stadium

Chelsea players celebrate their early goal at the King Power Stadium (Getty)

Chelsea can stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points if they are able to beat defending Premier League champions Leicester City at the King Power Stadium, but they will have to do so without Diego Costa after he was dropped from the squad. Follow all the action here.

• Leicester vs Chelsea kicks off at 17:30
• Chelsea without Costa after training ground row with Antonio Conte
• Costa could leave with offer coming in from China
• John Terry suspended but Nathan Ake available after recall
• Leicester without African trio Riyad Mahrez, Islam Slimani and Daniel Amartey due to AFCON
• Jamie Vardy returns from suspension

Follow the live action below...

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Preview...

Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City face table topping Chelsea on Saturday night, a match with big implications at the top and the bottom of the table, a win would see Leicester move away from the relegation zone, where they currently sit four points above.

Antonio Conte’s Chelsea were on the verge of a Premier League record consecutive win streak until they were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur last week, they will be looking to distance themselves from Liverpool and Spurs with a win.

It’s a big game for...

N’Golo Kante. The tireless Frenchman returns to the King Power having left the Foxes for £32m during the summer.

He has become a vital player in Conte’s new system and will need to work hard to try and contain an energetic Leicester City midfield, hopefully he gets a positive reaction on his return, given the fact he was hugely important in their title surge.

Best stat…

Chelsea registered more wins in December (6) than Leicester have the entire season. (5)

Remember when…

Riyad Mahrez won the game with this shot past Thibaut Courtois, a goal that drastically helped along the demise of Jose Mourinho.

Player to watch…

Nampalys Mendy

With Daniel Amartey and Riyad Mahrez away at the African Cup of Nations, the onus falls on the summer signing from OGC Nice to be more influential in the game and try to tame the Chelsea midfield, as well as midfield machine N’Golo Kante.

Past three meetings…

Chelsea 3 (Costa, Hazard, Moses) Leicester 0 Stamford Bridge, October 2016

Leicester 2 (Okazaki 2) Chelsea 4 (after ET) (Cahill, Azpilicueta, Fabregas 2), King Power stadium, September 2016

Chelsea 1 (Fabregas) Leicester 1 (Drinkwater) Stamford Bridge, May 2016

Form guide…

Leicester: LDLWDW

Chelsea: WWWWLW

Vital information…

Kick off time: 17:30

TV: BT Sport 1 from 17:00

Odds…

Leicester City to win: 5/1

Chelsea to win: 3/5

Draw: 31/10

(Odds provided by BetVictor)

[14 January 2017 19:05 · Sam Dymond]

75 mins: How have Leicester responded to that third Chelsea goal? The answer is with a corner and a substitution. In terms of responses, it's as feeble as Donald Trump's on Twitter. That final change sees another Twitter favourite, Danny Simpson, replace Marc Albrighton at right-back.

[14 January 2017 19:09 · Sam Dymond]

79 mins: Antonio Conte decides to make a change of his own with the final ten minutes approaching. Eden Hazard, scorer of a goal back in May that won Leicester the title, has done his job for the day and will make way for Cesc Fabregas.

[14 January 2017 19:11 · Sam Dymond]

This is ridiculous on two counts. They're still playing!

If you can call this playing.

[14 January 2017 19:14 · Sam Dymond]

85 mins: A flash of brilliance from Demarai Gray outside the box has Leicester fans on their feet for the first time in the second half. They quickly sat back down, however, after the young winger thwacked a shot 20 yards wide.

[14 January 2017 19:18 · Sam Dymond]

90 mins: There will be a couple of extra minutes to be played before Chelsea go back to being seven points clear at the top of the table - and Leicester go back to looking over their shoulders.

[14 January 2017 19:19 · Sam Dymond]

FULL TIME - LEICESTER 0 CHELSEA 3:

[14 January 2017 19:20 · Sam Dymond]

With or without Diego Costa, Chelsea look ominous.

[14 January 2017 19:46 · Sam Dymond]