Leicestershire

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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.

Leicester City will look to edge closer to pace makers Coventry City on Saturday evening (19:45 BST) when they welcome Portsmouth.

The Foxes could go into second spot with a win should Middlesbrough fail to take all three points in their game against Ipswich on Friday.

Pompey do seem to have resolved their away day misery from last season though and will be looking for second win on the road.

However, with Leicester only seeing one loss so far this season, it'll be quite the task for the side to claim victory at the King Power.

• This will be the first league meeting between Leicester City and Portsmouth since 2011-12, with both games that season in the Championship ending 1-1.

• Portsmouth are unbeaten in their last two league visits to Leicester City (W1 D1), while they've scored on each of their last six trips (9 in total).

• Leicester City are unbeaten in their last six home league games (W4 D2), having lost nine in a row at the King Power Stadium beforehand. The Foxes last had a longer unbeaten home run between November 2023 and February 2024 (8 games).

• Since the start of last season, no Championship team has lost more away games than Portsmouth (16), while Pompey have the worst defensive record in that timeframe (53 goals conceded).

• Leicester's Abdul Fatawu has had 88 take-ons in the Championship so far this season – 51 more than any other player. He also leads the way for opposition half take-ons (74), fouls won after a take-on (8) and shots following a take-on (6).

"We have got to score a few more goals, and take a few more chances, that is probably what has halted us from winning a few more games.

"But it is a new manager, new ideas are coming into the squad, there are new players getting used to playing with each other. And if we can get a win on Saturday, we can crack on again with another six tough games before the next International break."

Former Leicester City defender Matt Heath joins Owynn Palmer-Atkin on the When You're Smiling podcast to preview The Foxes game against Portsmouth, following the international break.

Listen to the latest episode of When You're Smiling and more Leicester City content on BBC Sounds.