Leicestershire

Image source, Rex Features

Leicester City boss Marti Cifuentes spoke to BBC Radio Leicester after the Foxes' goalless draw with Coventry City.

"I'm a bit disappointed not to get the three points, especially at home. But we got some answers and definitely, in terms of the performance, steps forward in many areas," he said.

"We need to keep improving, no doubt about it. We need to be more consistent.

"In the first 15 or 20 minutes it was difficult to break through the high press and they were very aggressive - we need to get better in those scenarios. But in the last 15 minutes of the first half ad the first 15 or 20 of the second, we were quite good and we could break through them.

"They are a good team, but perhaps we just missed this last edge in the last third.

"We had the situations [to score] and I'd be much more worried if we weren't creating those, but in football if you don't score the chances you don't get much."

Leicester City full-back Hamza Choudhury praised Marti Cifuentes for their good start to the season after the new Foxes manager was recruited deep into pre-season.

The Foxes are fourth in the Championship after only losing once in five games - a 2-1 defeat by Preston after a late winner from Milutin Osmajic.

"I think we can use them [the international breaks] as little checkpoints. Especially after it being a big summer and a big transfer window," Choudhury told BBC Radio Leicester.

"Looking back, it feels as if we have made a really good start. It hasn't been the easiest of starts to a season, but the gaffer has done a really good job in settling everyone down, and getting down to work."

Cifuentes was appointed on the 15th of July, which meant the time he had with the squad before the first fixture was just under a month.

"Pre-season is arguably the most important time of the season," Choudhury added.

"Even more so for a new manager, for his new ideas, he wants to get that into the team and practise it in a few games before the season starts.

"It is such an important time he missed, credit to him and his staff."

Listen to Choudhury's full interview and more Leicester City content on BBC Sounds.

Leicester City boss Marti Cifuentes said he feels that Saturday's game against Coventry City is a 'great opportunity to grow and improve', as he looks ahead to the M69 derby game.

"It is always special to play those derbies. For us, what is most important is that we are playing at home, which we feel it is a great opportunity to keep growing and keep improving, because there are many things we want to improve," he said

Leicester's opponents come into the fixture on the back of an unbeaten start to the Championship season.

"We are going to play against a team who is doing really well, but winning derbies is always special for the fans and ourselves, so that means that everyone should be ready to do the extra miles tomorrow," Cifuentes said.

"They are a good team, who have been good at what they are doing for the last year, more or less, since Frank Lampard took over.

"They are really stable, really good, and they have a good team. But for me, the most important thing is that we are dominant through our way and our philosophy.

"The fact that I see the team training with the belief despite the fact that the start has been far from perfect, encourages me that there is more to come from this group of players."

Charlie Slater
BBC East Midlands Today

Leicester City stalwart Hamza Choudhury said the Foxes have got "a job to do" against local rivals Coventry City on Saturday.

Just 25 miles of M69 motorway separate the two clubs who, after years playing in different divisions, are now sparking new life into an old rivalry based not just on geography but promotion ambition too.

"Derby games are always good to play in, they're the ones you look forward to", Choudhury told BBC East Midlands Today.

"I think it almost died down a bit because we didn't play for them for so many years, so it almost got bypassed, but the two meetings two seasons ago reignited it. We're looking forward to it and we've got a job to do it."

Image source, PA Media

Leicester City squeezed past Coventry City in their season opener in 2023 only for the Sky Blues to return the favour later in the season.

Now, with the Championship campaign still only a matter of weeks old, just one point and two places divide the pair in the push for promotion, which Choudhury said is Leicester's only goal.

"The stature of the club, the players along with the manager means there's no hiding from it and promotion is what we expect," he said.

Leicester will seek to end Coventry's unbeaten start to the Championship season when the Sky Blues head to the King Power on Saturday lunchtime (12:30 BST).

While the Foxes have suffered a defeat in their opening five league games, they lie fourth, one point and two places ahead of Frank Lampard's men, who have drawn three of their opening five fixtures, including each of the past two.

• Leicester City are unbeaten in each of their past nine home league games against Coventry City (W7 D2), since losing 3-1 at Filbert Street in the Premier League in April 2001.

• Coventry City beat Leicester City in their most recent league meeting in January last year, last winning back-to-back matches against the Foxes in the 2000-01 Premier League campaign under Gordon Strachan.

• Between December and April last season, Leicester City lost nine consecutive home league matches, failing to score in every single defeat. Since May, the Foxes have won all four at the King Power, netting twice in every victory and keeping three clean sheets.

• Coventry have scored 15 Championship goals this season, their most after five league games in a season since scored 16 in 2013-14 in League One. At this level, it's their most since 1964-65 when they scored 16.

• No player has more Championship goals this season than Coventry's Haji Wright (five goals), with the American netting in all four starts in 2025-26. It's as many goals as the Sky Blues scored as a team after five games in four of their previous five seasons (five in each of 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2024-25).