Leicestershire

Image source, PA Media

Leicester boss Marti Cifuentes is jumping at the chance to get back on the pitch at Hull City on Tuesday night after the disappointment of being held at home by Portsmouth.

A fifth draw in their last six matches on Saturday night was a setback for Leicester's promotion aspirations but their manager wants them to take out the frustration on Hull at the MKM Stadium.

The Tigers won 3-2 at Birmingham City on Saturday and after an inconsistent start under Sergej Jakirovic have lost just once in their last six Championship fixtures .

"When you have this feeling almost of a defeat, when you have a bad feeling, I think the best thing that happens is that you want to play immediately," Cifuentes told BBC Radio Leicester.

"It's a quick turnaround and we are going to get all the guys together, try to recover, try to analyse what we could have done better and and bring the positives into the game.

"We want to be very self-critical on the things we need to improve and make sure we improve our performance because Hull are coming from a strong win away and we can expect they will be in a good mood playing at home and we will definitely have to be at our best to get the three points."

Hull City are going for three league victories in a row for the first time since the start of October last year.

Leicester's only Championship defeat so far this season came in their first away game of the campaign at Preston North End.

• Hull have only won two of their past nine league meetings with Leicester City (D3 L4), with the most recent ending 2-2 in March 2024.

• Leicester have only won one of their past five league trips to Hull City (D2 L2), winning 1-0 in the Premier League in December 2014.

• After their 1-0 win over Sheffield United, Hull could win back-to-back home league games for only the second time since the start of last season, last doing so in March.

• Leicester have won as many of their five away games in the Championship this season (2) as they managed in 19 on the road in the Premier League last term.

• Hull's Oli McBurnie has been directly involved in 15 goals in his past 14 home league games in English football, scoring 10 and assisting another five. McBurnie scored in both of his two previous home league matches against Leicester as a Sheffield United player.

"Another concern about this team is that they get ahead and then they don't take games away from teams.

"The way that they controlled that first-half and played to what we saw in the second-half was night and day."

Former Foxes winger Matt Piper discusses Leicester City's fifth draw of the season, as they were held 1-1 by Portsmouth having let a first-half lead slip, and the concerns building around the team.

Includes a post-match interview with boss Marti Cifuentes.

Listen to the full post-match reaction and more Leicester City content on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester City head coach Marti Cifuentes says their second half showing against Portsmouth was not good enough as the Foxes drew again.

John Swift's equaliser cancelled out Aaron Ramsey's first Leicester goal as the Foxes suffered a fifth stalemate in six games.

And just like in the home game against Wrexham last month, Cifuentes' team could not capitalise on taking a first half lead to see the game out.

"We had a very good first half with a lot of good moments, a lot of good sequences of play," the Spaniard told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We spoke at half-time about the need of scoring one or two more goals because it doesn't matter how dominant you are in the Championship, the games can shift quick.

"The second half was not good. We tried to play too much centrally, we had some turnovers, we conceded some counter attacks and the goal was exactly like this.

"We had this attitude that I like, to chase until the end and we had these couple of good chances but we need to accept that the second half was not at the level we expected."

Leicester City winger Stephy Mavididi is "close" to a return after suffering a hamstring injury but remains a doubt for the game against Portsmouth on Saturday (19:45 BST).

The 27-year-old missed out on the side's most recent Championship match against Swansea and while boss Marti Cifuentes would love to have him back in the squad, the Spaniard does not want to rush a comeback and risk further injury.

"We are assessing. As always I like to sit with the medical, listen to them," Cifuentes told BBC Radio Leicester.

"Stephy is a very important player for us. It would be good news, the sooner the better that he's back."

Listen to the full interview with Cifuentes and more Leicester City content on BBC Sounds.