Leicestershire

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy believes Manchester United are in a "better place" than when they beat the Foxes in February.

Harry Maguire's injury-time header - which should have been ruled out for offside - gave United a 2-1 FA Cup win.

Since then, United have lost once in the Premier League and reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League, after a 5-2 aggregate win over Real Sociedad, although were knocked out of the FA Cup by Fulham on penalties.

They go to King Power Stadium on Sunday 14th in the table.

"It's a great boost [for them] they are in the quarter finals of the Europa League," said Van Nistelrooy.

"Bruno [Fernandes] is in great form, so he is very decisive in that team. It's a team which has some momentum going, so they are in a better place than when we played them in the FA Cup."

Former United striker Van Nistelrooy left Old Trafford after a spell as interim manager in November after Ruben Amorim's appointment - having rejoined the club as assistant coach to Erik ten Hag last summer.

He was unbeaten in his four games in charge - which included two wins over Leicester.

The Foxes have lost 12 of their past 13 games in the Premier League, leaving them second bottom and six points from safety.

They have also not scored a home league goal since 8 December, when they drew 2-2 with Brighton in Van Nistelrooy's second game.

"I wouldn't go into that particularly and blow it up. It's one of the things we work on. We are conceding too many goals and we are trying to improve," he said.

"The chances we create and the chances we missed, we have spoken about it before. It's also knowing from experience. I didn't score every game and I missed some chances, or I didn't score for a couple of games. When you start scoring you get momentum and the goals will come."

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier, we asked who has the second-most Premier League wins for Leicester City after Jamie Vardy (127).

The answer is Kasper Schmeichel, who racked up 118 league victories in a Foxes shirt.

Image source, Getty Images

James Justin says it would be "naive" to describe Leicester City's fight against relegation as anything other than "an uphill battle".

Defeat by Chelsea last Sunday was Leicester's 12th loss in 13 Premier League matches and could become the first team to lose seven straight home matches without scoring.

With 10 games to go, the Foxes are six points from safety and contemplating a daunting next set of fixtures.

"It's definitely an uphill battle," Justin told BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast. "If we didn't say that, we'd be naive.

"We have a lot of points to pick up over the next few games, so we have to knuckle down and start picking up points before it's too late."

Despite their precarious position, the 27-year-old is still hopeful of Leicester being in the Premier League next season.

"From what I see day in and day out, the qualities each individual brings to the team, I believe that we can do the job and stay up," he said. "There is no point if you don't have the belief anymore.

"We're just looking at the people in 17th and trying to catch them up before we run out of games."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Full commentary of Leicester City v Manchester United on BBC Radio Leicester and BBC Sounds from 19:00 on Sunday

Nat Hayward
BBC Sport journalist

Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game at home against Manchester United (19:30 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Van Nistelrooy confirmed he has no fresh injury concerns, with a fully fit squad apart from long-term absentee Abdul Fatawu.

• On Ricardo Pereira, who last week returned to the team in last weekend's defeat at Chelsea after being out since December: "Really good. He came on and we changed the structure in the last 20 minutes to push for a goal. As an inverted full-back, his role in the midfield made us play forward and create some chances and dangerous situations from that. It's great to have him back. He's experienced, a great professional and a great example for our team."

• Van Nistelrooy said he may use inverted full-backs again: "It was a tactical change because of the result at the time. It's an excellent possibility to use and we can also use it from the start. It depends on the opponent. With Ricardo, you have tactical flexibility because of his qualities."

• On the change of system to a back five at Stamford Bridge: "We were able to develop that and evaluate the Chelsea game - what went well and where we can improve. We look at United over the coming days and prepare to present ourselves in the best possible way. That structure has definitely been part of training."

• On the importance of win going into the international break: "A positive result would do us really good, that is very clear. That is what we're working for and what we took from the Chelsea game. It's what we have worked on this week to develop again the structures we put in place. We are able to build on that and take it into Sunday's game."

• He is expecting a harder game than the FA Cup tie, which was decided by a late Harry Maguire goal that replays showed was offside: "United are in a better place than the time we played them in the cup. They had a very good game against Arsenal and yesterday they were very strong [against Real Socieded]. Great boost they are in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Bruno [Fernandes] is in great form and very decisive in that team. It's a team that has some momentum going."

Listen to live commentary of Leicester v Man Utd on Sunday from 19:00 on BBC Sounds

Follow all of Friday's early Premier League news conferences and the day's football news

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Leicester have lost each of their past six Premier League home games by an aggregate score of 15-0.

No team in English top-flight history has ever lost seven in a row without scoring.

Jamie Vardy has won the most Premier League games for Leicester with 127.

But who has the second-most victories for the Foxes?

Answer will be revealed at 17:00 GMT

The latest episode of BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast has dropped.

Hear from Foxes defender James Justin, and ex-Leicester striker Matty Fryatt joins Owynn Palmer-Atkin to preview a fourth game of the season against Manchester United at the weekend.

Listen on BBC Sounds