Scrappy Foxes Keep Wolves from the Door

Leicester turned in their poorest performance for some time in beating Wolves 2-1 at the King Power Stadium this evening. City took the lead in the 24th minute, Anthony Knockaert running through unchallenged before scooping home his eighth goal of the season. Schmeichel must take a huge amount of credit for his quick and accurate distribution down the right flank to set Knockaert away. Just 2 minutes later, Sako blatantly fouled Knockaert in the penalty area but the referee and the linesman failed to award the penalty. Seconds later, Carl Henry committed an awful challenge on Andy King, which could have broken the Leicester player's leg. It should have been a straight red card for the Wolves midfielder. Although the referee spotted the foul, not even a yellow card was issued. It was not a good couple of minutes for the officials.

Wolves capitalised on their good fortune early in the second half, Bakary Sako equalising for the visitors with a spectacular strike from 20 yards. It looked like it wasn't going to be City's night until David Nugent curled a beautiful shot into the bottom corner of the net, from the edge of the box. With 17 minutes remaining in the match, Leicester had to cling on to their lead against a spirited and athletic Wolves side. The visitors had two clear cut opportunities in the dying moments and should have found the equaliser. It was an ugly with for Leicester but an important one. Pessimists will be pleased with the 11 point gap over Brighton in 7th place. Optimists will be looking at the 7 point defecit between Leicester and Cardiff City at the top of the league. Nigel Pearson will no doubt be glad of some breathing space before the run of 9 games in 29 days which begins with the trip to Peterborough on 9th February.

Leicester v Wolves Team News

Knockaert has been passed fit to play despite being a major doubt in the lead up to tonight's game. James is injured.

The team in full:

Schmeichel, De Laet, Morgan (c), Keane, Konchesky, Marshall, King,  Drinkwater, Knockaert, Wood, Nugent.

FA Cup 5th Round Tie on ITV

Leicester's potential 5th round FA Cup tie with Wigan Athletic will be televised on ITV. The match will take place on Sunday 17th February with a 3:55pm kick off. It means that, if victorious, the Foxes will have just 5 days between their 4th round replay and their 5th round tie. Interestingly, Chelsea have been given 10 days between their 4th round replay and potential 5th round match. City's home match with Charlton, scheduled for Tuesday 19th February, will now probably be moved back by 24 hours to Wednesday 20th February. This is yet to be confirmed by the club.

Leicester v Wolves Preview

The form guide over the last five league games suggests only one possible result in tomorrow evening's televised match at the King Power Stadium. Leicester are the form side in the Championship with 4 wins and 1 draw since Christmas, scoring 12 times and conceding just once over that period. Wolves, by contrast, are bottom of the pile over the past 5 matches with 2 draws and 3 defeats, scoring just 3 times and conceding 8. Their last victory in the league came on 21st December when they won 2-1 at Blackpool.

New manager Dean Saunders will be alarmed by the slump in form, which has seen his team slide to within 5 points of the relegation zone. He is also having to fend off speculation about the future of top scorer Ebanks-Blake, who has been subject to a bid during this January transfer window. Saunders could certainly do without losing his top goalscorer before tomorrow's deadline. Wolves have failed to score in 5 of their last 9 matches, including in an embarrassing FA Cup defeat at non-league Luton Town earlier this month.

Leicester need to win tomorrow's match to underline their promotion credentials, particularly with such a heavy schedule ahead of them. From 9th February until the 9th March, City play on every single Saturday and Tuesday, a daunting 9 matches in 29 days. It is a crucial stage of the season and key players such as Morgan, Wood and Nugent will need to remain fit if the Foxes are to maintain their challenge for automatic promotion.

Knockaert is the only major doubt for tomorrow night's fixture, meaning that Dyer and Marshall should both play. After 5 changes at Huddersfield on Saturday, expect Nigel Pearson to revert to the personnel who have performed so brilliantly in recent weeks. Here is the probable line-up for tomorrow night:
 
                                          Schmeichel
 
                 De Laet   Morgan (c)   Keane   Konchesky

                    Marshall   James   Drinkwater   Dyer

                                       Wood   Nugent

Fixtures Rescheduled

Leicester's re-arranged home match with Blackburn Rovers has been pencilled in for Tuesday 26th February. It will be City's 7th fixture in the shortest month of the year. If Leicester or Blackburn are involved in an FA Cup 5th Round replay, the Cup game would take preference and the league game with Blackburn would move to Tuesday 12th March. Meanwhile, Leicester's away fixture at Cardiff has been re-arranged for Tuesday 9th April. Finally, the FA Cup 4th Round replay between Leicester and Huddersfield, on 12th February, has been selected for live coverage on ESPN and will now kick off at 7:30pm.

FA Cup 5th Round Draw

Leicester City will face Wigan in the 5th Round of the FA Cup if they beat Huddersfield in the 4th Round replay. That replay is scheduled for Tuesday 12th February with the 5th Round scheduled for Saturday 16th February. It is difficult to see how the two matches could be played less than 4 days apart with tickets to allocate, sell and distribute. It surely would have made more sense to schedule the replay for 5th February, despite the international games, and allow more time between the rounds of the FA Cup.

The Foxes will certainly have a fixture headache to resolve regardless of whether they progress or not. The games away at Cardiff and at home to Blackburn need to be re-arranged already and a 5th Round tie could also affect the home game against Charlton scheduled for Tuesday 19th February. However, with 13 Premiership teams out already, let's hope that Pearson prioritises the Huddersfield replay and puts the Foxes in with a chance of progressing to the Quarter-Finals with victory over Wigan.

Here is the FA Cup 5th Round Draw in full:

Leicester City/Huddersfield Town v Wigan Athletic
MK Dons v Barnsley
Oldham Athletic v Everton
Luton Town v Millwall
Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers
Manchester City v Leeds Utd
Manchester Utd v Reading
Middlesborough v Brentford/Chelsea

Team Changes Contribute to Cup Fixture Congestion

Five changes to the starting line-up contributed to a poor performance and a 1-1 draw at Huddersfield in the FA Cup 4th Round this afternoon. Vardy, Waghorn, Dyer, King and Wellens all came in with Nugent and Wood, who have 30 goals between them already this season, dropped to the bench. Only one of the changes, a replacement for the injured Knockaert, was enforced. The net result is that a replay will take place at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday 12th February at 7:45pm. This means that the crucial trip to Cardiff will have to be re-arranged for a second time. Blackburn's trip to the King Power Stadium scheduled for 16th February will also have to be moved as Rovers progressed to the 5th Round today.

The fixtures are beginning to pile up and if City progress to the 5th Round, they will be playing a minimum of 6 fixtures in February, the shortest month of the year. As Nigel Pearson said in his post-match interview, a draw was "not an ideal scenario for us." Interestingly, of Leicester's 11 home league fixtures in 2013, only a maximum of 3 will have taken place at 3pm on a Saturday. This is partly due to the Cup run but also Sky's decision to televise Leicester's last league game on a Friday night and their next on Thursday night. Wolves travel to the King Power Stadium for that next fixture on the 31st. Completing January's fixtures unbeaten would certainly give the Foxes hope of negotiating a busy February in equally successful fashion.

For the record, Lee Novak gave Huddersfield the lead from the penalty spot today after 74 minutes. Lloyd Dyer was the guilty party on this occasion, upending Jack Hunt in the penalty area. Chris Wood equalised with his 7th goal in 5 games for the Foxes, slotting home De Laet's cross in the 82nd minute. Not a classic game on a difficult surface and while a replay is not ideal, at least City are in the hat for the 5th Round draw tomorrow afternoon.

Huddersfield v Leicester Team News

A huge surprise as Wood and Nugent are both left out of the starting line-up. Five changes as Wellens, King, Dyer, Waghorn and Vardy all play.

Team:

Schmeichel, De Laet, Keane, Morgan (c), Konchesky, Marshall, King, Wellens, Dyer, Vardy, Waghorn.

Substitutes:

Logan, Moore, Gallagher, Drinkwater, Futacs, Nugent, Wood.

Huddersfield v Leicester Preview - FA Cup 4th Round

Huddersfield fans would not have been too pleased when Leicester's number came out of the hat in the FA Cup draw. Leicester recently secured their fifth successive league victory over the Terriers with the 6-1 thumping at the King Power Stadium earlier this month. This completed a second successive home and away league double for the Foxes against Huddersfield. Leicester have now won 5 games on the bounce in all competitions, conceding just 1 and scoring 14. Meanwhile, Huddersfield haven't won for 12 league games, conceding 27 goals in the process and gaining just 6 points. It is this dramatic slump in form that lead to the sacking of Huddersfield manager Simon Grayson yesterday.

Leicester have named an unchanged team in their last three league games and there won't be too many changes tomorrow. However, Nigel Pearson may choose to freshen things up a little. I would expect the defence and strike force to remain unchanged. However, King and Dyer may well come in for Drinkwater and Marshall. This is a competition that Nigel Pearson takes very seriously and will want to do well in, despite the fact that automatic promotion is the top priority for the rest of the season. With 6 Premiership teams already knocked out in the 3rd Round, and a League Cup Final line-up of Bradford v Swansea, the magic of the FA Cup is very much alive for teams like Leicester...

Taking the Schmeichel!

Kasper Schmeichel's 91st minute penalty save enabled Leicester to hold onto all 3 points against Middlesborough and move into the automatic promotion places this evening. In the 70th minute, David Nugent scored the only goal of the game, a superb, instinctive finish from 15 yards out. Wood flicked the ball past the defender and Nugent got in front of his marker to hook the ball past the goalkeeper from a difficult angle. In truth, it was less than a half chance. By that point, Leicester had already struck the woodwork 3 times. Nugent also put the ball in the net on two further occasions, either side of his legitimate goal, but both were ruled out for off-side.  

Middlesborough may consider themselves a little unlucky. They certainly dominated possession, with 56% of the ball over the course of the match. They also matched Leicester's 17 attempts at goal. However, the Foxes looked more clinical and more likely to score than their opponents. At the back, Leicester limited Middlesborough to few clear cut opportunities and secured their 12th clean sheet of the season -more than any other Championship team. In their last 5 league games, the Foxes have conceded just 1 goal. City are hitting top form at just the right stage of the season and confidence is high. After 4 successive league wins, they may well have their sights on chasing down the 7 point gap between themselves and league leaders Cardiff.

Huge credit must go to the groundstaff who worked tirelessly for 12 hours to clear snow from the pitch, the stadium and the surrounding area. Just 8,585 fans made it to the King Power Stadium due to the horrendous weather conditions. The match was delayed for 15 minutes after the Middlesborough team coach took 2 hours to travel 2 miles from the team hotel. A number of Leicester players had to abandon their cars and jog to the stadium in order to arrive on time. Getting the game completed, and avoiding the inevitable fixture congestion that other teams will suffer over the winter period, may well assist Leicester's push for promotion. This will be even more relevant should City win at Huddersfield next weekend and progress to the 5th Round of the FA Cup.

Leicester v Middlesborough Team News

Kick off delayed until 8pm due to the late arrival of the Middlesborough team and some of the match officials. However, the game is officially on.

An unchanged team for the third consecutive league game:

Schmeichel, De Laet, Keane, Morgan (c), Konchesky, Knockaert, James, Drinkwater, Marshall, Wood, Nugent.

One change on the substitutes bench with Vardy replacing Futacs. Substitutes:

Logan, Moore, Dyer, King, Gallagher, Waghorn, Vardy.

Leicester v Middlesborough Preview

Both sides have the opportunity to break into the automatic promotion places with victory at the King Power Stadium tomorrow evening. Leicester and Middlesborough both have 47 points and sit in 3rd and 5th place respectively. Leicester are in excellent form, having won their last 4 matches in all competitions, scoring 13 goals and conceding just once over that period. Middlesborough have lost their last two league games and have a fairly poor away record this season, having lost 4 of their last 5 games on the road.

My money is on a 0-0 draw. It is bound to be a tight game, with both teams evenly matched and keen not to surrender the initiative to their promotion rivals. Middlesborough haven't drawn in any of their last 12 league matches, dating back to a 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest on 6th November.  Leicester haven't had a 0-0 draw at home all season. Sadly, it isn't the most exciting prediction of the season but the draw is a generous 3/1 with Bet365 with a 0-0 draw at 12/1.

Pearson may well name an unchanged team for the third league game in a row:

                                                Schmeichel

                            De Laet Keane Morgan (c) Konchesky

                            Knockaert James Drinkwater Marshall

                                                Nugent Wood

Substitutes: Logan, Moore, King, Dyer, Gallagher, Waghorn, Futacs.

Fixture Changes

Sky have announced their latest round of televised games. As a result, Leicester's trip to Derby on 16th March is now a 5:20pm kick off. Easter Saturday's home match against Millwall will now take place a day earlier on Good Friday, with a 7:45pm kick off. This will give Nigel Pearson's squad an extra day's rest before a trip to Barnsley on Easter Monday. Just 4 of Leicester's 11 home league games in 2013 will have taken place at 3pm on a Saturday.

Gerken Left in a Pickle

Bristol City 0 - 4 Leicester City

A couple of errors from Bristol City goalkeeper Dean Gerken and a dominant performance from the visitors made it a comfortable trip to Ashton Gate for Leicester City this afternoon. Chris Wood scored a first half hat-trick to win the match for the Foxes - he now has 6 goals in 3 games for his new club. Matty James made it 4-0 early in the second half.

11 minutes into the match, Wood continued his happy knack of scoring early goals. He cut in from the left and fired a shot past Gerken's right hand. In the 18th minute, Gerken fumbled a cross and Wood was on hand to capitalise and double the lead. The Kiwi striker completed his hat-trick in the 41st minute with a shot that squirmed under the hapless Gerken. Early in the second half, Matty James struck an excellent left footed shot into the bottom corner and the game was effectively over.

The result fires the Foxes up to 3rd in the table. With Middlesborough, Crystal Palace and Hull all losing, and Cardiff only managing a draw, it could not have been a better afternoon for Leicester. They now sit two points behind the automatic promotion places with a vastly superior goal difference to their rivals. Leicester are +25 while Hull in 2nd place are +8. Bristol City, by contrast, are now bottom of the pile. Manager Derek McInnes was sacked shortly after the match - assistant Tony Docherty has been put in charge on a temporary basis.

Bristol City v Leicester City Preview

In their last two away fixtures, playing a solitary striker has reaped rewards for Leicester City. The Foxes secured a 0-0 draw at Hull and a 1-0 victory at Burnley immediately after Christmas. With a poor away record up to that point of the season, it did seem as though Leicester had turned a corner and had finally discovered an effective formula on the road. Surely it would make sense for manager Nigel Pearson to continue in this vein tomorrow? Definitely not!

Chris Wood's arrival from West Bromwich Albion on New Year's Day has injected fresh impetus into Leicester's promotion campaign. He has scored 3 goals in his first two games and his burgeoning, exciting partnership with David Nugent implores the manager to play both strikers. With 25 league goals between them already, Nugent and Wood will both be desperate to start against the only team to have conceded 50 Football League goals this season. Bristol City are also the only team without a single clean sheet in the league so far. Time to go for the jugular Nigel!

My team tomorrow would be:
 
                                                Schmeichel

                         De Laet   Keane   Morgan (c)   Konchesky
 
                         Knockaert   James   Drinkwater   Marshall
                          
                                               Nugent   Wood

Substitutes: Logan, Moore, King, Dyer, Gallagher, Waghorn, Schlupp.

FA Cup 4th Round Draw

Leicester City will travel to Huddersfield in the 4th Round of the FA Cup. The two sides have never previously met in the competition. It is a decent draw for Leicester, who have defeated Huddersfield in 5 consecutive league meetings, the most recent of which was the 6-1 demolition on New Year's Day. The match will take place on the weekend of the 26th/27th January 2013. It is a decent draw Leicester's Championship fixture at Cardiff City, scheduled for Saturday 26th January, will be moved to an alternative date. That date will be confirmed in due course.

Here is the FA Cup 4th Round Draw in full:

Norwich City v Luton Town
Oldham Athletic v Mansfield Town/Liverpool
Macclesfield Town v Wigan Athletic/AFC Bournemouth
Derby County v Blackburn Rovers
Hull City/Leyton Orient v Barnsley
Middlesborough v Aldershot Town
Millwall v Aston Villa
Leeds Utd/Birmingham City v Tottenham Hotspur
Brighton & Hove Albion v Swansea City/Arsenal
Crystal Palace/Stoke City v Manchester City
West Ham Utd/Manchester Utd v Fulham/Blackpool
Southend Utd/Brentford v Chelsea
Reading v Sheffield Utd
Huddersfield Town v Leicester City
QPR/West Bromwich Albion v Sheffield Wednesday/MK Dons
Bolton Wanderers/Sunderland v Cheltenham/Everton

Curtains for Burton's FA Cup Hopes

Two early Leicester goals ended any hopes of a Burton fairytale in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup at the King Power Stadium this afternoon. Chris Wood continued his impressive start in a Leicester shirt, netting in just the third minute of the match. Ritchie De Laet doubled Leicester's advantage in the 21st minute and, in truth, the remainder of the game was a very dull affair. Futacs had several opportunities to score, striking the bar on one occasion, and Michael Keane had a header cleared off the line. King also hit the post from long range. Burton, by contrast, offered very little and were hugely disappointing. The early goal seemed to unsettle them and they never really got into the match. Leicester go into the hat for the 4th Round draw which takes place at 3pm tomorrow.  

Leicester City v Burton Albion Preview

Nigel Pearson will hope that the phrase "Lightning doesn't strike twice" rings true at the King Power Stadium this afternoon. His side face Burton in a cup competition for the second time this season. In August, City suffered an embarrassing 4-2 home defeat in the Capital One Cup. This afternoon offers the Foxes a chance to set the record straight. It also offers Pearson the opportunity to look at some of the peripheral players who haven't had many first team appearances so far this season. Pearson may wish to make some decisions about who he wants to keep for the season, whilst giving others the chance to show what they can do in the shop window of the FA Cup. Incidentally, Leicester haven't lost an FA Cup match to a team from the 4th tier of English football since January 1986, when they lost to Bristol Rovers in the 3rd Round. The Foxes will be determined not to let Burton re-write that particular record today.

My starting eleven today would be:

                               Logan

     Moore   Whitbread   Morgan   Schlupp

          Gallagher   King   Danns   Dyer

                          Futacs   Waghorn

Wood You Believe It?

New signing Chris Wood scored a brace on his debut for City today in a 6-1 demolition of a sorry looking Huddersfield Town side. It took just 6 minutes for the Kiwi born striker to head home his first, after Nugent's initial header rattled the crossbar. In the 24th minute, Nugent and Wood combined again, exchanging passes on the half-way line before Nugent raced through on goal. He squared the ball for Wood to finish neatly into the bottom corner. Next, De Laet scored his first goal for Leicester, smashing the ball home from the corner of the 6 yard box just before half-time.

After the break, Knockaert grabbed two superb goals in the space of five minutes, curling both shots into the bottom left-hand corner of the net. Arfield grabbed a consolation for the visitors on the hour mark, much to the despair of Kasper Schmeichel. Finally, Waghorn fired home the sixth goal with about 15 minutes remaining after a neat headed lay-off from Wood. In truth, Leicester could have scored even more but will be content with another convincing home display. It is the second time that Leicester have scored 6 goals in a league game this season - a feat that they haven't achieved since the 1957/58 season.

Huge credit must go to the owners and those working behind the scenes to secure the signing of 21 year old Chris Wood. He looks like an excellent player and a bargain at less than £2,000,000. Not only did City manage to steal a march on other teams that were looking to secure Wood's services, but they got the deal done incredibly quickly. They were also canny enough to sign the New Zealander on loan initially, in order for him to feature in today's game. Registration for permanent signings takes 24 hours and would have ruled the player out of today's fixture.

The permanent deal to sign Wood will go through in the next day or so and his partnership with Nugent is a mouth-watering prospect. The pair linked up well today and have 25 league goals between them already this season. At the other end of the pitch, Leicester boast the meanest defence in the Championship, having conceded just 23 goals in 26 games this term. The Foxes are now just 5 points away from second place. With such a convincing start to the new year, automatic promotion must be a realistic and achievable aim for Nigel Pearson's men.

Leicester v Huddersfield team news

A few surprises today. Keane plays, King still "rested" and Wood makes his debut.

Team: Schmeichel, De Laet, Keane, Morgan (c), Konchesky, Knockaert, James, Drinkwater, Marshall, Nugent, Wood.

Substitutes: Logan, Moore, Dyer, King, Gallagher, Waghorn, Futacs.