Town defender Leif Davis says the Blues cannot afford any complacency ahead of their trip to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester City on Saturday.

The Foxes have dipped in form in recent months, winning just once on home soil since August while letting a two-goal lead slip in Wednesday’s draw at Bristol City to leave them 13th in the Championship table.

Leicester’s struggles have heaped pressure on under-fire boss Martí Cifuentes, who was given the task of steadying the ship over the summer following their relegation from the Premier League.

Davis is expecting another challenging meeting this weekend against a side that the Blues have enjoyed competitive battles with on a regular basis in two different divisions in recent seasons.

“You can never judge a book by its cover,” he said. “Every game is going to be difficult, no matter how the form is. They might not be in the best form, but I know for a fact they’ll be there on the weekend going toe-to-toe with us.

“We have had tough games against them in the past, and that will be one target for them to try and beat us with this year because we do give them good games and we have taken a lot of points from them as well.

“It’s the same for us, we want to take the three points away from the game and take big confidence into that from this past week.

“We’ve taken points away from them where we’ve drawn games. It would be nice to get the three points and hopefully finish off a good week.”

Two years ago, Leicester and Town were automatically promoted together out of the Championship and into the Premier League, but both sides fell short of survival and were relegated back to the second tier after just a single season.

During that time, the Blues have not beaten the Foxes, drawing three games and falling to defeat in the most recent meeting in the East Midlands in May.

Davis said: “We’ve played them three years in a row now. Every game has been a tough game, it’s been a good game to be involved in. We got beat off them at the end of last season so we want to go and do a job against them.

“It’s focusing on game by game, we know their threats and they’ll know our threats after watching us. We’ve just got to take it game by game and do everything we can to get the three points on Saturday.”

The closest Town came to overcoming Leicester was the Portman Road meeting last season, in which Jordan Ayew netted a stoppage-time equaliser to deny Kieran McKenna’s side a first win of the season after a controversial sending off for Kalvin Phillips.

Opening the scoring that day was Davis, whose first and so far only top-flight goal remains one of his most memorable moments in a Town shirt.

“I would say so,” he said. “I think he was going to flick it and I just had to watch the ball the whole way. It was Sam Morsy that played the pass and he knew how I played anyway, I was always on that top line waiting to run in.

“I think I'm better on the volley than I am on the floor, to be fair, especially the other night against Oxford. I said to my parents I just need to stop shooting off the floor, I need to flick it up and volley it.

“It was a good goal, but I would rather have the three points at the end of the day. I’m a big team player and I love the boys in that changing room.

“Like I said before the Oxford game, I would go to war for any one of them in that room. I think they know that because I just keep my head down, run and work hard.”

Following Saturday’s match, the Blues will have a seven-day wait before their next fixture for the first time in three weeks after a difficult run of seven matches in just 22 days.

Davis is a virtual ever-present for Town, having started all bar one league match this season and completed every minute in the last seven Championship matches.

While clearly physically demanding, the 25-year-old says he would rather have the consistent run of games back-to-back.

He said: “I feel fit, I'm feeling ready to go every week. I play a lot of games but I'm still young, I know I can do it as well. The boys know I can do it as well, they see it every day in training.

“It is tough compared to last year where you’re waiting one game a week. This year, it’s Saturday-Wednesday, Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday, it’s a lot of games. But that’s what gives you rhythm in the games and gives you confidence that you can do well.

“I just love playing matches, if it could be every day I would happily play a game every single day. It’s just the feeling of walking out in front of the fans makes me smile every time.

“I wish we could play every day, but it’s too much stress on the body for that. It’s a lot of games thick and fast, we’ve just got to take it game by game.”

Jaden Philogene will be feeling sharp, the winger having netted his seventh goal of the season after just two minutes in Wednesday’s narrow home victory over Stoke City.

Davis says his partnership with Philogene down the left-hand side is improving with each passing week, and that sometimes he is grateful to indirectly contribute to some of the forward’s impressive catalogue of goals.

“I just get my head down and run because I know he likes to come inside,” he said. “There’s been a few goals, especially Sheffield United, where I’ve run on the outside and I know I'm not going to get the ball because I know Jaden likes to come inside.

“If he does that every week, I'm happy if he doesn’t give me the ball. If he puts it in the top bins then I can’t complain. There’s sometimes where he does give me the ball and probably the better option is to go inside.

“We have got that partnership now that we are clicking and a lot of teams are respecting us as well, changing people and putting more defenders on our side which means we’re doing something right.

“That means it gives us bigger confidence to go into the games and keep kicking on.”

Manager McKenna has recently spoken about Philogene’s off-the-ball work, and Davis says that has not gone unnoticed by him or any of his teammates.

He said: “His stats show it, I’ve seen his running stats and they’re are incredible. I don’t know how he does it, he comes in the next day and doesn’t even feel tired, but that’s his level.

“If he runs, if I run, that means we’re getting the most out of each other. We’re starting to click really well now. We’ve had that partnership from the start of the season. I think we’ve been good, but now it’s starting to hit the top level that we know we can hit to get to.

“We can still do more, but teams do go more defensive on our side to try and stop us. Jaden put it in the top bins and that’s what he can do.”

Photo: TWTD