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.