Leicester City

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Former Leicester City striker Matty Fryatt believes Jamie Vardy will "relish" the challenge of facing Arsenal as he returns to full training before Saturday's match at King Power Stadium.

Vardy has a record of 11 goals in 17 games against the Gunners, and Foxes boss Ruud van Nistelrooy confirmed on Thursday the forward is ready for selection.

Speaking on BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast, Fryatt said: "Vardy's just got that knack, hasn't he? He's still got that fire and determination within himself to keep on going.

"At times in games he's been anonymous this season, but then other times he steps up at the right moment.

"At Tottenham he hadn't scored for a few games, then he gets that goal and Leicester are back in the game. With that leadership and the understanding, knowing where to be, he'll certainly be up for the fight against Arsenal.

"He's testing himself against the very best defenders - they've got a formidable partnership at the back. But he'll relish that. He enjoys the challenge and the battles.

"He's got a great record against Arsenal and he'll want that to continue."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Name this former Leicester manager from the following clues:

• Reading and Watford were among the clubs I managed early in my career;

• I was manager when Leicester won the FA Cup;

• I am currently managing a club in Scotland.

Answer will be revealed at 17:00 GMT

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The latest When You're Smiling podcast has landed.

Ruud van Nistelrooy has just 14 games to save Leicester City from an immediate return to the Championship, but will he manage to do it?

Hear from the Foxes boss on the relegation fight, Wilfred Ndidi's impact and the return of some key players for Arsenal's visit to King Power Stadium.

BBC Radio Leicester's Owynn Palmer-Atkin is joined by former Leicester City striker Matty Fryatt and Foxes Pride's Rishi Madlani to preview a game that has "a lot riding on it at both ends of the table".

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Leicester fans planning to protest against the running of the club have been urged to back the squad in their fight against relegation.

Boss Ruud van Nistelrooy agrees supporters have a right to voice their opinion with Foxes fans being asked to protest before and during Saturday's Premier League visit from Arsenal.

The protest has been branded Project Reset and urges fans to make themselves heard in the 14th minute, a reference to the 14 seconds the club missed the deadline by to register Adrien Silva for his £22m move from Sporting Lisbon in 2017.

Supporters have chanted for the removal of director of football Jon Rudkin - who is under fire for the club's perceived drift and poor signings - but this is the first time any form of dissent has been planned.

"Thank God we can live in a society where there is freedom of speech and everyone who feels they can let their voice heard is free to do that and we can all be happy they can do that," said Van Nistelrooy, with the Foxes third bottom in the table.

"Looking back as a player, when you played in front of your home crowd and there is a connection from a tackle, pass, cross or difficult moments in a game where support is lifting you, I know as a coach and someone who loves sports and football what it does to the team.

"I can only hope the support will be behind the players. Of course it's good if there is anything you want to get off your chest individually or in groups,

"We live in a society where that's possible - but when the whistle starts until the end of the game I can only hope the players are fully supported by the crowd and it will lift them."

Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Arsenal (kick-off 12:30 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• There are no fresh injury concerns. Jamie Vardy, Jannik Vestergaard and Victor Kristiansen have all had "a good week of training", after missing the Foxes' FA Cup fourth round game against Manchester United, and are available for selection this weekend.

• Youngsters Jeremy Monga and Jake Evans, who travelled with the squad for the Old Trafford trip, could be in the squad again this weekend, with Van Nistelrooy stating: "They are part of first team training, once or twice a week they are with us now. Not everyday though, because of school! The players are now back who weren't able to be there at Manchester United so we have to have a look, but they are competing."

• Wilfred Ndidi's return from injury has been a boost for the team and Van Nistelrooy explained: "It starts with his personality, which is excellent. Then it is his leadership and his playing capabilities. He has an enormous reach on the pitch, on and off the ball. The complete package of him as a character and a player has lifted the team."

• When asked about a group of Leicester City fans organising a planned protest against the club's hierarchy before Saturday's match, he replied: "Thank God that we live in a society where there is freedom of speech. Everybody who wants their voice to be heard, in a good way, is allowed to do that. We have to be happy about that."

• He hopes there will still be a good atmosphere inside King Power Stadium, adding: "We hope they will get behind the team. Of course it is good that they can get what they want off of their chests but, when it gets to 12:30pm, I hope that we have the full support of the crowd."

• On facing Arsenal, who are currently sitting second in the Premier League, he said: "The difference between us and Arsenal is big. You look at the table and it is clear. It's a big challenge for us and something to look forward to. We will continue building on the last performance because the lads showed they are capable."

• The Gunners will be without "top of the world" attacking players Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz, who are both sidelined due to injury, but he believes Mikel Arteta has "enough players to be able to replace them".

• Leicester City haven't set a target for the number of points they believe they will need in order to stay up in the Premier League this season. He added in jest: "The one who can look into the future and tell me, they can always ring me!"

• When asked what the group's mindset is towards surviving relegation, he replied: "It is a game for game mindset. We try to do the maximum preparation within the training week, perform at our best, then it is up to how we manage the games. We have to score more and concede less - it is the most basic evaluation of our performances."

Follow all of Thursday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

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Arsenal are unbeaten in their past 14 Premier League games (W9 D5), which is their longest run without losing in the competition since between December 2010 and April 2011 under Arsene Wenger (16 games).

Meanwhile, Leicester City have lost their past four Premier League home games without scoring. Only Sheffield Wednesday in 1919-20, Birmingham City in 1921-22 and Norwich City in 2019-20 have ever lost five in a row at home to nil in the same top-flight campaign.

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The Athletic's Rob Tanner, speaking on BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast about the Foxes' upcoming run of fixtures: "Opta looks at the next six fixtures and do a rating of who has got the most difficult. Leicester are up there with Newcastle with the run they've got coming up.

"Straight after that, there are three more fixtures that are really difficult as well.

"This is going to be a tough run but they've got to hang in there because in the past five games, they're playing all of the teams around them.

"They've got to be in touching distance of Wolves and then their fate might be in their hands. But you look at those [upcoming] fixtures and you wonder where the points are going to come from.

"If 35 points is the target, that's another 18 points they've got to get from 14 games. They've only got 17 from the previous 24.

"There needs to be something changing, something dramatic. It's time to be throwing the dice a little bit, otherwise you're just going to slip away back into the Championship."

Listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds

Chris Forryan
Fan writer

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56, 57, 58.

I thought counting to 10 was supposed to help?

How is Ruud Van Nistlerooy a football manager? He couldn't manage his way out of a wet paper bag. Is this the guy that's supposed to save our season? Bring back Steve Cooper, in fact bring back Peter Taylor! OK maybe that's going too far, but you sense my frustration.

To be fair to RVN, despite my utter alarm at some of the starting line-up at Old Trafford, the Foxes played well in the first half, and deservedly went into the break one up.

But let's look at his decisions in this match.

He is still picking a left back to play right back. He brought on a right back and then played him as left back.

There was no recognised striker on the bench despite paying Edouard up to an alleged £90,000 per week.

He hands the armband to Wout Faes, one of the worse players to ever wear a City shirt.

He seemed to not notice how much Garnacho was ripping us apart on the left when he came on and left our left back come right back to mark him.

Even pre-match he was spouting nonsense - announcing that two teenagers - Monga and Evans would be in the squad. Evans must have been wearing Harry Potter's invisibility cloak. What a way to treat the youngster.

Lets be honest he had no intention of ever letting either on the pitch.

The joke is at least Dick Turpin wore a mask. RVN is ripping this club off. So I go back to my original question, how is Ruud Van Nistlerooy managing my football club?

Answer: BADLY!

Find more from Chris Forryan at Leicester Till I Die, external

Is there something you want to ask about a Premier League club?

Former Premier League defender Nedum Onuoha is ready to answer your burning questions and give his thoughts on some of the biggest talking points for a special Q&A.

Submit your questions here and come back on Thursday for his answers

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Former Leicester striker Jermaine Beckford spoke highly of Bilal El Khannouss' performance against Manchester United on Friday.

Speaking to the When You're Smiling Podcast, Beckford said: "El Khannouss was brilliant, I really enjoyed his performance. I like his arrogance - every time he got on the ball he tried to make things happen and be forward-thinking.

"I want to see more from him, a bit more energy. Run a little bit harder and close players down. When you pick the ball up, be a bit more like Jordan Ayew; pick the ball up and be direct.

"I saw enough of him today to think that this kid could be something special."

Listen to the full podcast episode here

The latest episode of the When You're Smiling podcast has landed.

Jack Rafferty is joined by former Foxes striker Jermaine Beckford to analyse Friday's FA Cup defeat against Manchester United.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

We asked for your views on Manchester United's match against Leicester in the FA Cup.

Here are some of your comments:

Man Utd fans

John: Dreadful in first half with some improvement in the second. Overall a very poor display; poor passing, little skill and lacking enthusiasm.

Mac: Never seen so many passes given away, territory squandered and such an obvious lack of strategy. Second half and Garnacho were totally different but still had to wait for a goal to ignite the team. Very lucky to get the winner - offside all day but I'll take it.

Peter: I've been watching United for over 60 years and the first half was the worst I have ever seen. A little better in the second half but no real threat. Even our second goal was apparently well offside.

Leicester fans

Jimmy: Leicester were by far the better team, taking the game to United and causing lots of problems... then early in the second half made lots of stupid substitutions which disrupted the team tactics and shape Irrespective of United winning with a clearly offside goal, bad decisions cost us a lucrative place in the next round. Let's hope the Foxes show the same desire and passion to win for the remainder of the season.

Mark: We were cruising against a poor Manchester United until Van Nistelrooy took off Thomas and Ndidi. Garnacho coming on made all the difference and our genius manager takes the left-back, who was doing fine, off instead of the right-back, who was getting skinned. And don't forget the obligatory offside goal in favour of United (it wasn't even close, so how did the linesman miss it from a dead ball?)

Nick: It was a difficult watch. Ruud van Nistelrooy set Leicester up with a possession-based style, looking for opportunities to open up. Without the players with the ability to keep possession or the quality to produce opportunities, wins will never be easy to come by.

Gary Rose
BBC Sport journalist at Old Trafford

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For over an hour, this looked on course to be a win for Ruud van Nistelrooy on his Old Trafford return, as well as a morale-boosting result to aid them in their Premier League survival fight.

The Foxes had battled well, were the better side in the first half and good value for their 1-0 goal lead as the game headed towards the final 20 minutes.

Even after Joshua Zirkzee's equaliser their performance earned them the opportunity to take the game to extra time, but it was not to be with Harry Maguire's stoppage-time winner, despite the defender appearing well offside.

But after a poor performance against Everton in their previous game, Leicester fans can take heart from this display and the battling qualities their players showed.

They will be needed as they look to pull themselves out of the Premier League relegation zone.

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Leicester Fan TV editor Phil Holloway spoke to the When You're Smiling podcast about Friday's FA Cup trip to Old Trafford: "I don't want to say it's a 'free hit', but it is a chance for Ruud [van Nistelrooy] to maybe test out a slightly different starting 11 for the Arsenal game [next Saturday].

"If we lose it. we will say we are concentrating on the Premier League and if we win it gives us something extra to go at. It's a bit of a win-win.

"The Everton match, we need to put that behind us. Players not coming up to fans after the game, that needs to stop. We need to see a two-way thing between the club and fans.

"We need to get on the same page before the Arsenal game. The players can make that happen if they put in a performance against Manchester United. They don't have to win, but they need to leave it out on the pitch for us."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sound