Leicester will look to banish the demons of their previous encounter with Nottingham Forest, as they go in search of another three points to push them closer to their East Midlands rivals.
Forest ran out 5-1 winners when the Foxes visited the City Ground back in December in a relentless display of attacking football which City simply could not handle on the day.
But heading into the game seven matches unbeaten in the Championship the mood will be high in the Leicester camp, buoyed by the victory at Doncaster midweek.
Nigel Pearson will be hoping his side can take advantage of Forest’s questionable away form of late, Bill Davies’ men losing their previous four on the road in all competitions.
Despite this Pearson will be well aware of the threat the Trees possess tomorrow afternoon, going up against a side who have swept aside most to help themselves climb to 2nd place behind Newcastle in the Championship table.
Forest secured back-to-back league victories with a crucial 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough last weekend to add to the previous week’s victory over play-off hopefuls Sheffield United.
Leicester have emerged unbeaten from a run of three straight away matches to lift them above Cardiff in the table to 5th place.
With the match heading for a complete sellout, all eyes will be on the Walkers Stadium tomorrow for the outcome of what is a key game in the Foxes’ end of season run-in.
Vital Quotes:
Leicester manager Nigel Pearson: ‘It’s an opportunity for us to put a better show on, I think we owe that to ourselves. There’s no doubt that on the day at Forest we were well below par.
‘The bigger picture is that we want to remain in the race for promotion. We’ve done well this season and the game against Forest is the next chance for us to get three points.’
Nottingham Forest manager Billy Davies: ‘Every team we play against wants to beat us and this game won’t be any different. We won’t expect any favours but we’ll go to Leicester and try and cause as many problems as we can.
‘We had a great afternoon against Leicester at our place because we showed clinical finishing.’
Leicester City Team News:
Leicester have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the game.
Nigel Pearson faces the decision of recalling captain Matt Oakley and Paul Gallagher to the first team, after both sat out the midweek victory over Doncaster.
Player to watch: Martyn Waghorn
The striker scored Leicester’s solitary goal against Forest from the penalty spot back in December, and will be looking to swap consolations for winners tomorrow afternoon.
Since Matty Fryatt’s injury Waghorn has led the line well for Pearson’s Foxes, finding the net twice in his last four games at the spearhead of City’s new-lok front three.
Nottingham Forest Team News:
Gareth McCleary will miss the match as he serves the last of a three match suspension.
Forest are otherwise in reasonable health, with only long-term casualties Julian Bennett and Brendan Moloney sidelined.
Player to watch: Robert Earnshaw
Devastating at the City Ground earlier in the season, Leicester fans will struggle to forget the hat-trick that sunk the ship in Forest’s 5-1 vitory.
Earnshaw is one of the Championship’s most proven forwards, with regular goal-scoring spells at Norwich, West Brom and Cardiff in recent years.
Match Facts & Stats
– Tomorrow’s match should see Leicester’s highest attendance of this Championship campaign, a complete sell-out.
– Forest have scored just 13 away goals all season, with only three teams having scored less.
– Meanwhile, Leicester have conceded only 13 at home, only Newcastle and Swansea boasting better defensive records.
– The two clubs are currently locked on 36 victories each in all competitions.
Match Prediction:
Everything about this game points to the draw for me. If we can contain Forest’s lethal attack we should be fine. Leicester 1-1 Nottingham Forest.
Next Fixtures:
Saturday 6th March
Leicester: Sheffield Wednesday (A)
Nottingham Forest: Swansea (H)
