Town visit Leicester City on Saturday as they end their run of seven games in 22 days against one of last season’s other relegated Premier League clubs, aiming to win three Championship matches on the bounce for the first time this season.

The Blues have picked up 11 points from the six games so far, winning three, drawing two and losing one. A win at the King Power Stadium would take the total to 14 and a respectable two points a game average.

Given the busy spell of fixtures since returning to action following the third international break of the season and drawing 0-0 at home with Wrexham on November 22nd, manager Kieran McKenna, speaking after Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Stoke City, was asked how the squad had fared over the course of the run.

“We’ll see in the morning, but I think tonight was an intense one, so there are some decisions to be made going into the weekend,” he said.

“But over the general block of it, I think good. And that’s why we rotated a little bit more when we had the three games in six days because we knew this was an incredibly busy block coming up and it was finishing with three games against three of the best teams in the league where you’re going to need your most energy.

“We’re in a great bill of health at the moment and that gives us a chance and I think the players are getting fitter and more robust as the season goes on, the more time they’ve spend with us.

“But there’s no doubt that tonight was a big, big effort and we’re going to have to make some judgements about getting the right balance for Saturday.”

Leicester, who finished three points and one place above the Blues in the Premier League last season, are currently 13th in the Championship.

The Foxes’ form has been up and down with their record of seven wins, seven draws and six defeats illustrating the point.

They have won one of their last four, the 3-1 victory at Derby County a week ago, and drew 2-2 at Bristol City on Wednesday having been two goals up at half-time, the fourth time this season they have drawn when ahead at the break.

Against the Rams, Leicester had been three goals in front at the break, but in their previous two matches, at home to Sheffield United and at Southampton, they conceded three in each opening period, losing the former 3-2 and the latter 3-0.

At home, they have won three - 2-1 wins against Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke back in August and a 2-0 success over Birmingham last month - drawn four and lost two, a 2-0 defeat to Blackburn in addition to the loss to the Blades.

Only five sides in the Championship have scored fewer home goals than their total of 11, but just six sides have been tighter at the back, the Foxes having shipped only 10 on their own turf.

“It’s clear that they’ve had some negative momentum, that’s not easy to turn around,” McKenna said when asked what he’d made of Leicester’s tough transition since relegation.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of it, but you can see they’ve still got a really good squad, some top players.

“I think Marti [Cifuentes] is a really good coach having faced him at QPR when we were in the Championship last time. I thought his team was excellently set up and he did that again last year, so they’ve clearly got a good coach and very good players.

“They haven’t had the results that they would want and that’s for them to analyse. But we know we’re facing one of the best footballing teams in the league, a team who really test you and test your organisation and your defending.

“And that’s just going to be our focus going to face a good Leicester side to try and get a result and any problems they do or don’t have, we’ve got enough of them here to worry about myself.”

Quizzed on whether the King Power Stadium support is one which could turn on their team if the Blues get themselves on top, McKenna said: “I think probably every relegated team in every country in the world has a crowd that you can turn a little bit.

“I think that’s pretty normal when a team’s not doing as well as they would want to be doing or coming off a season that didn’t go as well they would have wanted.

“But we can’t rely on that. It’s what we control and going and delivering the best performance we can.”

The Blues’ trip to face the Foxes was the penultimate match of last season and the three points ended up claiming 18th place for the home side, an irrelevance in terms of divisional status but worth around £3 million in positional prize money.

Reflecting on that game and whether Leicester, then with Ruud van Nistelrooy in charge, have changed a lot since then, McKenna joked: “I hope Jamie Vardy’s not playing! That was the Jamie Vardy Day.

“I think they’ve been pretty consistent. I don’t think [Abdul] Fatawu was fit then but I think Fatawu and the left winger [Stephy Mavididi] are very, very good, so they’ve had good wingers for a long time.

“They’ve got quite a few new players as well but I think for the last few seasons they’ve been a good possession team, who connect and play through the pitch well, and you have to defend against them really well.

“I don’t see there being one per cent of relevance from that game, so we’ll be looking at it with fresh eyes now and go to deliver, hopefully, a good performance.”

The Team

McKenna appears to hint that there may be changes to his team, having made ony one enforced swap in midweek, based on how players came through the exertions of the victory over the Potters.

Christian Walton, who kept his fifth clean sheet in 10 Championship starts on Wednesday, will remain in goal and will make his 100th league appearance for the club, despite Alex Palmer now having returned to fitness and on the bench against Stoke.

McKenna has options at right-back but has tended to stick with Darnell Furlong for the majority of games even when they have been coming thick and fast with Ashley Young handed a rare start in the 1-1 draw at Blackburn but in no other games during the recent run.

At the centre of the defence, skipper Dara O’Shea and one-time Foxes academy scholar Cedric Kipre have been among the Blues’ standout performers as Town secured back-to-back home clean sheets against Coventry and the Potters, so seem likely to continue their partnership at the heart of the defence. Leif Davis will be at left-back.

In central midfield, Azor Matusiwa is now treading a suspension tightrope having picked up his ninth booking somewhat harshly on Wednesday with a 10th leading to a two-match ban.

The Dutchman may be joined by Jens Cajuste for this game if McKenna feels Jack Taylor, who has started the last four, needs a rest.

The front four will almost certainly see the greatest switch-around with Kasey McAteer appearing likely to come back into the team against his old club on the right and Jack Clarke on the left, Jaden Philogene having put in a brilliant but tiring full 90 against Stoke on Wednesday.

McKenna could opt for either Chuba Akpom or Sammie Szmodics, who would be making his first start since his return from injury, as the number 10, while George Hirst seems set to come back into the XI as the out-and-out striker against one of his previous sides having been suspended against Stoke.

The Opposition

Leicester 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 manager Cifuentes having given no firm answer as to why.

The Spaniard described the former England international’s absence at Derby as a “technical decision” and said the same was the case at Bristol City. Pressed on whether the 29-year-old would be available on Saturday, he paused before confirming he would, but not overly convincingly.

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.

Midfielder Jordan James, who is on loan from Rennes, Matusiwa's former club, is a doubt having been subbed against the Robins due to a groin issue.

History

Results are very evenly balanced historically with Town winning 27 games between the sides (27 in the league), Leicester 27 (25) and 21 (20) ending in draws.

The Blues are currently without a win in six against the Foxes with their most recent victory a 1-0 home success under Mick McCarthy in March 2013 in which David McGoldrick - a future Leicester target - scored his second goal for the club.

Town have gone 11 games without a win at the King Power since a 2-1 victory on Boxing Day 2002, their only victory at the Foxes’ current home on their first visit, Thomas Gaardsøe and Darren Ambrose netting late goals to see Joe Royle’s team come from a goal down to claim the three points.

In May in last season’s penultimate match at the King Power Stadium, Town dropped to 19th in the Premier League table after a 2-0 defeat to Leicester with Vardy scoring his 200th goal on his 500th and final appearance for the Foxes, who moved above the Blues.

Vardy, with fans and the club celebrating his career throughout the afternoon, saw the home side into the lead in the 28th minute, then McAteer added the second on 69 with Town creating plenty of chances but unable to take any of them with Davis going closest when he struck the post in the first half and with an effort which was ruled out for offside late on.

In November last year at Portman Road, Jordan Ayew netted in the 94th minute to deny 10-man Town their first Premier League victory of the season as the Blues and Leicester drew 1-1.

Davis gave Town the lead with a superb volley, his first top-flight goal on his 100th appearance for the club, on 55 but the Blues were reduced in number for the second successive game when Kalvin Phillips was harshly dismissed for a second bookable offence, seconds after Conor Chaplin had been denied a clear penalty.

The 10 men held out until the fourth minute of injury time when Ayew levelled for the Foxes with Town unhappy that Sam Morsy may have been fouled early in the build-up.

Familiar Faces

Town striker Hirst signed from Leicester in the summer of 2023 for £1.5 million following his successful loan spell in the second half of the previous season.

Hirst made only two senior sub appearances for the Foxes having joined them from Belgian side OH Leuven in the summer of 2019.

Blues forward McAteer came through the youth ranks at Leicester having joined them aged eight and went on to make 27 starts and 29 sub appearances, scoring eight goals, before joining Town in the summer.

Town central defender Kipre was recruited to the Leicester academy as an U18, moving on three years later without having made a senior appearance.

Blues manager McKenna spent time working in the Leicester academy while a student at Loughborough University.

Leicester second-choice keeper Asmir Begovic, now 38, was on loan with the Blues for nearly two months in the first half of 2009/10. The Bosnian international joined the Foxes in the summer after a season at Everton.

Officials

Saturday’s referee is Thomas Kirk, his assistants Robert Hyde and Mark Scholes, and the fourth official Sam Allison.

Cheshire-based Kirk has shown 59 yellow cards and one red in 15 games so far this season.

Kirk is in his fifth season as an EFL referee having risen swiftly through the divisions. Saturday’s match will be his 21st Championship fixture.

Earlier this season, Kirk refereed the Blues’ 3-1 East Anglian derby victory over Norwich City at Portman Road, yellow-carding Philogene and three Canaries.

In his only Town game prior to that, the 2-1 win at Morecambe in League One in October 2022, he awarded the Blues two penalties,

On 58, Kyle Edwards was tripped by Farrend Rawson, Town’s first spot-kick in nine months, but Chaplin’s effort was saved.

Six minutes later, the Blues were given another when Kayden Jackson was felled by Jacob Bedeau. This time Lee Evans was successful to claim the points. Evans was the only Town player booked during the game along with six home of the home team.

Squad From

Walton, Palmer, Button, Furlong, Johnson, Young, H Clarke, Davis, O’Shea (c), Greaves, Kipre, Matusiwa, Taylor, Nunez, Humphreys, J Clarke, Walle Egeli, Philogene, McAteer, Szmodics, Akpom, Hirst, Azon.

Photo: TWTD