Friday, 19 October 2012

Birmingham City v Leicester City - Match Preview

Leicester City return from the international break looking for their sixth consecutive win as they travel to struggling Birmingham City.

The Foxes, currently second in the nPower Championship, will also be hoping that they can regain top spot in the league after heading the table for only a few hours after their last win against Bristol City.

Should Cardiff drop points at Nottingham Forest, Leicester will go top of the table with a win but it won't be easy as the Blues look to bounce back from two consecutive home defeats against Barnsley and Huddersfield.

Recent new signing Papa Bouba Diop looks set to miss out as paperwork to sort out his visa hasn't gone through, while striker Nikola Zigic is suspended after receiving a red card against Huddersfield.

Chelsea loanee Ben Gordon has recently picked up a knee injury and is a major doubt, while fellow left back David Murphy has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury and is also doubtful.

Defensive options are low for Lee Clark's men as Stephen Carr, Paul Caddis and Pablo Ibanez are all out, but Curtis Davies could return.

The Foxes are definitely without defender Sean St Ledger after a hamstring injury ruled him out for four weeks, so Liam Moore or Zak Whitbreak will take his place.

Striker Jamie Vardy, an ever-present in the league this season, is a doubt as he has an illness and has been unable to train all week.

Paul Gallagher is available after his loan spell at Sheffield United came to an end last week.

Birmingham City boss Lee Clark: "This is a week where we can go and get nine points and get the season up and running and push forward.

"I've got total belief in my players and individuals and total belief in them as a group.

"Our start on Saturday has got to be so much better than in previous games  and we've got to play in Leicester City's half and put them under pressure."

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson: "We’ve got to try to pick up where we left off before the break, which isn’t always easy.

“It’s important for us to go into the game with a positive mind-set, as we have done in every game so far this season. I think one of our main strengths has been that we are a positive team in terms of how we set up and how we go about games.

“We’ll try to do that again, but we’re very aware of the fact that they (Birmingham) have some very good players."

Match Odds: Birmingham City (2/1) Draw (12/5) Leicester City (5/4)

Birmingham to win 2-1 (9/1) 1-1 draw (11/2) Leicester to win 2-0 (9/1)

Darren Ambrose to score first (12/1) David Nugent to score a brace (8/1)

No comments:

Post a Comment