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Cifuentes: Town Probably High on Confidence - Ipswich Town News

Leicester manager Marti Cifuentes is expecting to face a Town side full of confidence when the Blues visit the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Kieran McKenna’s team are hoping to complete an impressive week with only their second ever victory at the Foxes’ current home, having beaten leaders Coventry City and Stoke City at Portman Road over the last seven days.

"They’re a good team with a good manager,” Cifuentes said at his press conference. "Their start to the season was not easy for them, but they have a lot of quality and they’ve now had good results against good teams. They’re probably high on confidence. It’s an interesting test.

"We need to make sure we impose our style and we’re aware of their strengths. Kieran McKenna has done a fantastic job there. He’s been working with many of those players for a long time, so it creates a solid foundation.”

Leicester have been a team of two halves in their last few matches. Having been 3-0 down at home to Sheffield United at the break a fortnight ago, they fought back to make the scoreline a more respectable 3-2.

Last weekend at Derby, the Foxes were the ones who went into a three-goal half-time lead, before the Rams pulled one back in the second period, the game ending 3-1.

On Wednesday, Leicester were 2-0 up at Bristol City at half-time but allowed the Robins to come back into the match in the second half and draw 2-2.

"We had good periods in both games, but we need consistency,” Cifuentes said of the Derby and Bristol City matches. "Since day one, I said we’re in a process. They were two very good first halves and now we need to be better in keeping this momentum.”

The former QPR boss says midfielder Jordan James should be fit to face the Blues after concerns he would miss out having suffered a groin issue which forced him off at Ashton Gate.

"We had to take a difficult decision during the game,” the Spaniard added. "He’s a very important player for us. The medical [team] has done good work, he feels better and is available for tomorrow.”

Midfielder Harry Winks, who played for Blues boss McKenna in the Tottenham academy, has been left out of the squad for the last two games with Cifuentes having said the former England international’s absence was a "technical decision” and the former England man is not expected to return tomorrow.

Boy wonder winger Jeremy Monga, 16, is out with a muscle injury, while midfielder Boubakary Soumare has missed the last two with a knee problem.

Centre-half Caleb Okoli (knee), midfielder Aaron Ramsey (hamstring) and left-back Victor Kristiansen (knee) are all long-term absentees, while central defender Harry Souttar is on the way back from an achilles tear but not yet ready to return.

Leicester have former West Ham man Michail Antonio training with them with the 35-year-old looking for a club after leaving the Hammers in the summer following his serious road accident last December in which he broke his leg in four places.

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