Leicester City

Former Leicester City winger Matt Piper has been discussing how "important" it will be for the Foxes to change their current form as soon as possible on the When You're Smiling podcast:

"I actually look at that game at the weekend [against Hull City] and think that it's not a bad point. They've already beaten us this year, we clearly weren't at the top of our game and it's the first time, for a long time, that we've not dominated possession.

"Liam Rosenior [Hull City manager] seems to have Enzo's number a little bit in the way he sets the team up and how difficult he makes it. To go 2-1 down and then come back immediately - I know we didn't win but, I don't think the team would be too down about a 2-2 draw away at Hull.

"It might be a good thing coming away from the Championship for a week or so and playing this FA Cup game against Chelsea. It will give them the chance to really test themselves."

On hitting a poor run of form at the "business end of the season", Piper added: "We've gone two games before and we've always bounced back - I think we've done that twice this season. We've bounced back and come back stronger but that's why it was a record-breaking start to a season, because we didn't have any of those dips really.

"Unfortunately, now, when it gets to the business end of the season, it seems like we've hit that dip that all of the other clubs have already been through.

"But I think Leeds and Ipswich will still lose football matches in the run-in to the end of the season. I think Leicester will as well. I do think it will be incredibly tight, but we will get over the line."

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Chris Forryan
Fan writer

Jamie Vardy! Write this man off at your peril.

He’s 37 years old and I don’t think there would be many a Championship or bottom half Premier League team that wouldn’t have him in their squad right now.

He played 86 minutes and scored two goals at Hull City all without taking part in training during the week.

He cost Leicester City just £1m in 2012, a fee he has more than paid back during his time at the club.

But his contract is up at the end of the season, and a big decision will need to be made by the Leicester hierarchy.

If we go up, do they let him leave on a high, or offer him one more year at the top level? But he's the highest-paid player, and the spectre of FFP is hanging over the club.

The United States? Saudi Arabia? Sheffield Wednesday? If he does leave there will be no shortage of offers on the table, possibly even a player-coach role.

Who knows, but what I do know is there will be calls for a statue.

I’ll have a pint of what he’s drinking, please!

Chris Forryan can be found at Leicester Till I Die, external

Image source, Getty Images

Former Leicester striker Matty Fryatt believes the Foxes 2-2 draw with Hull on Saturday was a "fair result" but says not being top going into the March international break would "add more pressure".

"From the standards we've expected and how we've assumed Leicester would carry on the season, they were going for the points record at some point, is a point enough?" Fryatt told the When You're Smiling podcast.

"But then on reflection of the game, I think a point was a fair result. You probably take it, dust yourself down, and look forward to something different next week in terms of the cup.

"Take a point and move on but there are nine ridiculously huge, massive, must-win games to go. They get even bigger.

"You see the table now, it is tight. People have to be aware of the pressures but enjoy that type of environment as well.

"There wasn't much between the two sides, no real control from either. There were times the game slowed and was stop start, then on the balance a draw is right, it's a decent point regardless of the stage."

The Foxes travel to Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-finals next weekend which gives the opportunity for Leeds to leapfrog them before they next play in the league and Fryatt believes this would be a psychological blow.

"It would add more pressure, of course it does - then you might potentially be the chaser," he added.

"Whereas before it's been 'who's going to go up alongside Leicester?'

"Now it's a position where come the next league game they might not be top. That does add pressure but you have to focus on what you do and when Leicester are on it and at their best they can beat any team in this league.

"It's really difficult to not look at the league, there's always that element, but you've still got to go and do what you do best."

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Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca was hesitant to admit how many points he thinks his side need to achieve promotion back to the Premier League at the first opportunity.

The Foxes sit three points clear at the top of the Championship with 10 games left to play, with a trip to sixth-placed Hull City on Saturday their next obstacle.

"We have to focus game by game" Maresca said in his pre-match news conference. "We have to win as much as possible and then we'll see at the end.

"I think if you start to think how many wins you need, it's a big mistake. You can win six, but they could win 10 out of 10. It's just tomorrow's game.

"You see QPR, in the past nine games, they have won six, Sheffield Wednesday is exactly the same. Everybody is fighting to survive or to win. Every game will be difficult.

"I want them [the fans] to continue the way they are, home and away. To stay next to the club and the players. I've always said they've made an unbelievable effort since day one to be close to the players."

On Saturday's opponents, Maresca added: "They are fantastic, to be honest. The way they play is fantastic.

"I've watched some of their games in the past two or three days. I watched their game against Southampton - it was unbelievable. It will be a very tough game."

Is getting promoted to the Premier League too easy if you've just been relegated?

Daniel Storey from the i Newspaper has been telling The Football News Show about a problem brewing in winning promotion and battling the drop.

Watch The Football News Show on BBC iPlayer here

Former Leicester defender Liam Moore spoke to the When You're Smiling podcast about the Foxes' potential breach of profit and sustainability rules:

"It sounds like a situation that Leicester are going to have to deal with this summer, no two ways about it, regardless of what league they're in.

"It's so messy. There's so many different situations and I think they're starting to confuse themselves a bit - nobody really knows where they stand. Nobody has any clarity over what's happening.

"I think the only way you can get to the bottom of this is by ripping it up and starting again, and that will take a lot of egos to be dropped but it would make things a lot clearer.

"Promotion sounds like it's vital again. To potentially have to lose some of your assets very quickly comes at a price. There will be cut-priced player sales, which isn't ideal for the club moving forward.

"I'm just hoping there can be more clarity moving forward over what clubs can and can't do."

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Leicester are set to be charged for breaching the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules in 2022-23 and could start next season with a points deduction, whichever division they are in. (Sky Sports), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column

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Leicester could play a part in something never seen before in English football this season.

If the Foxes, Leeds and Southampton manage to secure promotion to the top flight, it will be the first time that all three relegated teams go back up at the first possible opportunity.

If only two of the three teams secure promotion, it will be the seventh time that has happened, with Norwich and Watford in 2020-21 the most recent to achieve this feat.

Kieran McKenna's Ipswich are the team most likely to disrupt this record as they are currently second with 10 games to go.

Regardless of other teams, if Leicester to get promoted this year, they will become the first club to return to the Premier League on three different occasions.

Game on!

Leicester City could be forced to sell several of their top players to avoid breaking financial rules, even if they achieve promotion to the Premier League. (Mirror, external)

Want more transfer news? Read Thursday's full gossip

Former Leicester City striker Steve Howard says Foxes boss Enzo Marsca will be "drawing a line through" Tuesday's tight 1-0 win over Sunderland.

Jamie Vardy's early goal was enough to end the club's three-game losing run and maintain their three-point lead at the top of the Championship.

"It's another frustrating performance because of the dominance of the first half," Howard told BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast.

"If this was August, September, October then you'll be thinking you want the performance and all this.

"At this stage of the season, it's about the three points. You get those three points - if it's an ugly 1-0 we'll take it.

"On you go and Enzo Maresca will just be drawing a line through Sunderland, saying: 'Right, done, tick, win, next.'

"That's the mentality he's going to give. The lads will say on to the next one and it's another three points.

"I think they'll be buzzing. They knew it was a big game. They were on a run of getting beaten and now they're not. They'll have come here thinking: 'Today's the day we change things with a win.'"

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Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca says his team had to win "ugly" away to Sunderland on Tuesday.

The Foxes ended a run of three league defeats with a tight victory at the Stadium of Light thanks to Jamie Vardy's early goal.

"Very important victory, especially after the three defeats," Maresca told BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast.

"We won the game in an ugly way but, in this moment, it's important winning in this way. It's part of the process to improve as a team.

"In the past three defeats we played much much better, created more chances, but at the end we lost the game.

"First half, we create again many, many chances, at the end we won this game.

"In the second half, we were a little bit tired. We are at the end of the season, day by day I am more in love with the team because they do an unbelievable effort.

"We have many players that in the past few years didn't play a lot and now they are playing so much at the end of the season.

"It's normal that some of them can be tired - but now it's important that we recover energy and go again Saturday."

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Former Foxes winger Matt Piper has been discussing the importance of Leicester's match against Sunderland on Tuesday on BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast.

Piper said: "I think they are [in must-win territory] but more for the fact they have lost three in a row. It just piles on the pressure if you go and lose four in a row, the confidence will be chipped away hugely if we go and get beaten at the Stadium of Light.

"I think it is more for the psychological fact rather than anything else. We need to get three points, we're in a position where it isn't must win to still be able to win the league, but psychologically it could be so damaging so we are in that territory.

"There are still fans that are saying 'we're still three points clear, we've just hit a bit of a blip, don't worry Enzo [Maresca] will sort it, these players will march forwards and we'll pick up points against Sunderland'. Then you have others saying 'the wheels have definitely fallen off, we're not even going to finish in the play-offs and if we do we're going to get beaten in the semi-final' and players are very similar to that.

"Some, in the back of their mind, will be fearing these next three league games and others will be thinking this is our chance to look adversity in the face and get marching after it and make sure we win the game against Sunderland.

"It has made Sunderland a huge, huge game now - they all are. I said it before the QPR game, then we lost it, so now this Sunderland game becomes huge, but even bigger because everyone without doubt will be saying the wheels have 100% fallen off if we go to the Stadium of Light and get beaten."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Chris Forryan
Fan writer

It is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

We have played the same way, with mostly the same players, for three consecutive league games - and have lost all three.

I admit that not being able to hit a barn door with a banjo has also contributed, but maybe some of these players are in their comfort zone knowing that, however they play, Enzo Maresca will stick by them.

Lose to Middlesbrough, lose to Leeds United, all change for the FA Cup, beat Premier League opposition then revert back to losing against Queens Park Rangers.

Don’t tell Enzo that I am critiquing him or his style - I don’t want him spitting his dummy out. But is it time for a plan B? Do we have a plan B?

Let’s get real. Yes, we have won 25 games this season and we have been top since game eight.

But that was then and now our lead is down to three points. We have tough games coming up, and Ipswich Town, Leeds and the chasing pack must be rubbing their hands together.

Chris Forryan can be found at Leicester Till I Die, external

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Former Leicester City winger Matt Piper says the Foxes must now "pull together and really dig deep" after a third defeat in a row cut their lead at the top of the Championship to just three points.

"You have to be concerned," he told the When You're Smiling podcast. "Three defeats in a row, I don't even think we had that at home under Brendan [Rodgers] in the worst of times.

"We're clearly going through something at the minute which is concerning, the teams behind us keep winning.

"There was that fear of the past two, three weeks of could we get reeled in - and I think that's starting to happen now.

"I have to now put my belief in the manager, the one who took us to the top of the table and had us playing fantastic football all this season, and his mentality.

"Can he create that culture and environment that makes him a little bit more steely as this run-in happens?

"This now is going to be really difficult because when you start getting reeled in there'll be press, the Leeds fans, Ipswich fans will be calling us bottle jobs - and we've seen it before at this football club.

"Being in the top four for however many months and not finishing there for those two seasons, we bottled it a little bit and you are always worried about that.

"I've believed in this manager all season and this group of players. I did think they would get promoted at the start of the season - they had a fantastic start, they've been excellent.

"We've hit a patch now where we need to pull together and really dig deep."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds