Boss Mick McCarthy says last year’s 6-0 defeat at Leicester “really, really hurt” everyone at Portman Road and warns that the Blues will have to defend far better than they did then if they are to take anything from their return to the King Power Stadium this afternoon.
The Blues made the trip to Leicester four games into McCarthy’s tenure after an away win at Birmingham, a 5-0 thrashing at Crystal Palace and a home victory over Burnley. An eighth-minute penalty, inevitably scored by David Nugent, set the Foxes on their way to a very comfortable victory.
"That hurt, that hurt,” McCarthy admitted. "It was win one, lose one at that point. The problem was that it was that tight at the bottom that we were thinking we’d have to rely on goal difference and we’d conceded so many and hadn’t scored that many.
"It really, really hurt. It hurt all of us. But we beat them here [1-0 later on that season] so I don’t get wrapped up in what happened last year.
"We’ll have to play well and we’ll have to defend a damn sight better than we did last year or we’ll get sunk much the same because they are a very good team.”
McCarthy says he won’t be going there to park the bus: "They played on Wednesday night, I think we’ve got to try and make the most of that and be an attacking force, go and press them and try and get something out of them.
"If you just sit back and let them have it, they’ll recover from Wednesday night and they’re not an easy team to stop. They’re the best team in the league by a good margin.”
Meanwhile, former Blue Fabian Wilnis, 43, has resumed his playing career with Ryman League Premier Division Leiston.