McKenna: Leicester’s Starting XI as Strong as Anyone in the Championship
Friday, 6th Mar 2026 19:03<\/p>\n
Town boss Kieran McKenna believes Leicester City, who visit Portman Road tomorrow, are as strong as anyone in the Championship. <\/p>\n
The Foxes, relegated from the Premier League along with the Blues last season, are in danger of a second successive relegation. Having been deducted six points for breaching financial rules, they are sitting second-bottom of the table on 34 points following Oxford\u2019s 3-1 win at Preston on Friday evening.<\/p>\n
The East Midlanders are without a win in nine Championship matches, losing six, with Gary Rowett having been named manager last month following the sacking of Mart\u00ed Cifuentes, who had only taken over last summer after Ruud van Nistelrooy\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n
Despite their struggles, McKenna believes the Foxes remain tough opponents having beaten the Blues 3-1 at the King Power Stadium before Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo doubt,\u201d he said. \u201cWe felt it earlier in the season, but even aside from that game, I think if you look at their starting XI, it\u2019s as strong as anyone in the division and certainly if you look at Premier League experience and international caps and things like that, maybe the strongest.\u00a0
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\u201cIn the end, it doesn\u2019t really matter. We know they\u2019ve got really good players, a strong team, a good manager and an experienced manager.\u00a0
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\u201cWe believe that we\u2019re a good team, we have good players and it\u2019s up to us to go and show that now tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a good game, I think. It\u2019s going to be a real battle, like every game in the Championship is, and we want to do everything we can to come out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blues and Foxes have shadowed one another as they\u2019ve won promotion and then been relegated over the past two seasons with some tough and memorable battles during that time.
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\u201cWe\u2019ve been in the same division now for a few seasons,\u201d McKenna reflected. \u201cIt felt like we had a couple of draws with them when we got promoted that really felt like victories [1-1 home and away] and where both clubs were coming from that season, I think they were two great games from our point of view that we have great memories of.\u00a0
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\u201cProbably still a bit of stinging injustice, if I\u2019m honest, from the Premier League game at Portman Road last year [which Leicester won in controversial circumstances] and then they beat us in the last couple of games at their stadium [2-0 at the end of last season, then the loss in December]. So again, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any surprises from our end.\u00a0We know we\u2019re facing a good opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re certainly are happier coming into the game in the position we\u2019re in.\u00a0But I think with two good teams like this, that goes out the window a little bit, and it\u2019s about who delivers the better performance on the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose intensity comes out on top, who gets the details right, who executes right, who manages the game right and these are the things that we\u2019re focusing on, not what\u2019s happened in any previous games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowett, whose Oxford side beat the Blues 2-1 at the Kassam Stadium in November, oversaw a 2-2 draw at Stoke in his opening match, then a 1-1 stalemate with second-placed Middlesbrough at the Riverside, before a 2-0 defeat to Norwich City in his first home game in charge last week.<\/p>\n
Only six sides have picked up fewer points on the road than Leicester this season, the Foxes having won four, drawn six and lost eight.<\/p>\n
But just seven teams have scored more than their total of 24 away goals, however, they have conceded 31, the third most in the division.<\/p>\n
McKenna, whose Blues have won their last three matches, was asked that with Rowett still looking for his first win, the former Millwall, Birmingham, Stoke and Derby boss might take a more aggressive approach to the visit to Portman Road.
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\u201cThat\u2019s up to Gary, really, but he\u2019s only been there three games,\u201d McKenna responded. \u201cThey\u2019ve had two really tough away games, got two positive results. Stoke away was a good performance, almost won it, except for an injury-time goal.
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\u201cMiddlesbrough away was a really good performance. Again, could have won it and then I\u2019m sure they were disappointed to lose at home last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s early in his tenure and we\u2019ve each got our goals that we\u2019re fighting for. They\u2019ve got a clear motivation now and for the end of the season on what they\u2019re going to want to do.
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\u201cBoth teams will have their reasons to want to win the game, that\u2019s for sure. And it\u2019s up to us to find a way to come out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s match is the first against three teams in poorer form at present with the Blues at Stoke City, who have won only one of their last nine, on Tuesday and then visiting rock-bottom Sheffield Wednesday, who haven\u2019t won since September, next Saturday.<\/p>\n
With on-paper tougher games at home to Millwall, who are fourth, and then after the international break, Southampton away, Birmingham at Portman Road and Norwich away, all sides in the top 10 in the form table at present, McKenna was asked whether he views the next three matches as an opportunity to rack up points.\u00a0
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\u201cI see them as really tough games,\u201d the Northern Irishman insisted. \u201cYou can\u2019t look at the league position in this division as much as the strength for the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow is a prime example. One, because Leicester in the relegation zone now, it\u2019s easy to forget they\u2019re in the relegation zone because they had a points deduction.
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\u201cProbably three weeks ago, before the points deduction, they were looking at the play-offs and hoping to get there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then they\u2019ve not won their last few games and had a points deduction and now they\u2019re looking the other way. The league is so, so, so tight.\u00a0
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\u201cWe go to Stoke away on Tuesday night. If anyone thinks that\u2019s not a very difficult game, it doesn\u2019t matter if Stoke are fourth, 14th or 24th, that\u2019s going to be a really tough game.
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\u201cSheffield Wednesday is a different context, of course. But again, I\u2019ve not seen them roll over too easily for too many teams this year. And Millwall after that will be really tough as well.\u00a0
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\u201cWe know what\u2019s coming up, but you can\u2019t afford for a second to look at any game this year in this league and think, \u2019well, that\u2019ll be more of a challenge than that one or that one will be a bit easier than that one\u2019.\u00a0
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\u201cTomorrow, it\u2019s a really, really tough game. We need to be ready for the battle that it\u2019s going to be. And then it\u2019ll be the same on Tuesday and everything after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s one at a time and our full focus is just on getting ready for Leicester and trying to back up our last couple of results and performances in our last home game of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKenna was asked how easy is to adapt when opposition sides switch things around as Watford did recently when they moved to five at the back against the Blues, or Swansea and Hull City, who both left their top scorers, who might reasonably have been expected to start, on the bench.
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\u201cValid question,\u201d McKenna reflected. \u201cIt\u2019s our job to do a little bit more research, so I\u2019d like to think we weren\u2019t as surprised as maybe you were when Watford changed to a back five.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe looked at the history of the coach [Ed Still], what he\u2019s done with his previous teams as he\u2019s only been there for a couple of games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey finished the end of the game before us [a 2-0 win at home to Derby] playing a back five, so, OK, maybe they\u2019ll start that way.\u00a0
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\u201cI think we research as much as possible, but there are very often late changes when you\u2019re one of the teams at the top of the division and you\u2019re in good form.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd especially when you\u2019re playing at home, you also know that there\u2019s a fair chance that the other team might adapt.\u00a0
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\u201cThere\u2019s always a balance to how much information you give to the players, how many what-ifs you can give them if they play this shape or if they play that shape.\u00a0
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\u201cYou try to give the right amount of information without overloading them with information, especially information that might not be valid.
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\u201cAnd you always leave yourself a little bit of scope to make adjustments when the team comes in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to prepare as well as we can, we make the players aware of the different possibilities, scenarios, selections and systems they might come up against.\u00a0
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\u201cBut you always leave that little bit of flexibility, especially in busy weeks, especially at this stage of the season, especially when we\u2019re at home and we\u2019re in good form, that there might be some changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we have a process for how we communicate them to the players in the last hour and 15 minutes when the teams come in and make sure that they are as prepared as they can be for what they\u2019re going to face on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere this weekend, leaders Coventry are at Bristol City on Saturday afternoon, Boro in second are at QPR on Sunday and Millwall, third, are away to fifth-placed Hull City.<\/p>\n
McKenna will probably make a similar number of tweaks to his side as he did for Tuesday\u2019s game, again mainly in attacking areas.<\/p>\n
Christian Walton will continue in goal with Darnell Furlong at right-back, skipper Dara O\u2019Shea and Cedric Kipre at the centre of the defence and with Leif Davis returning at left-back.<\/p>\n
In central midfield, Tuesday\u2019s goalscoring hero Azor Matusiwa, who remains on nine bookings with a 10th leading to two-game ban having gone 15 matches without a yellow card with another three fixtures to be played before the cut-off, will take up his usual role. <\/p>\n
McKenna will probably bring Dan Neil back in for Jack Taylor alongside the Dutchman.<\/p>\n
Ahead of them, Wes Burns seems likely to return on the right with Anis Mehmeti coming back in the middle and Jack Clarke again on the left. Ivan Azon seems set to be the number nine.<\/p>\n
Leicester will be without former Town loan keeper Asmir Begovic, who suffered an ankle injury in the warm-up ahead of the Norwich match having been named in the starting XI. Jakub Stolarczyk took over and is set to start again.<\/p>\n
Centre-half Caleb Okoli is available despite being subbed against the Canaries having felt unwell after taking a blow to the head.<\/p>\n
Midfielder Jordan James returned as a sub against Norwich but is considered a little way off full fitness, while veteran central defender Jamaal Lascelles is in a similar position having replaced Okoli on Tuesday. Midfielder Hamza Choudhury is also on the way back from injury but still a little way off a return.<\/p>\n
Centre-back Jannik Vestergaard, left-back Victor Kristiansen, another central defender, Harry Souttar, and midfielder Aaron Ramsey also all remain sidelined.<\/p>\n
Regarding Town, Rowett said: \u201cThey\u2019re a really good side. Kieran is a young, bright coach with a fantastic team. They\u2019re well-drilled.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019ve got the players that if we believe it and show what we\u2019re about, we can compete in these games and cause problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his time at the King Power up to now, he added: \u201cWe\u2019ve only been here just over a week, I\u2019m not expecting, I\u2019d love to see it, but I\u2019m not expecting incredible performances straight away in every single game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve had two positive, one half of not so positive. That\u2019s fine. It gives me little clues. It gives me messages about what I think we need to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think every game that passes that we don\u2019t get a positive result I think for the players, that feeling heightens a little bit, we start to realise that games aren\u2019t going to be here forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t want to add to that. I don\u2019t want to add to that feeling of every time we lose a game there\u2019s no point in me walking in and having a go at the players every single time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we still have to be constructive. I think the players were left after the game in no uncertain terms of what I think we need to do better in games. But I also see a clear desire to try and improve that themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s always an easy narrative from outside that players don\u2019t care and players are overpaid or whatever that might be. But I haven\u2019t seen that within the group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen a group that cares, that wants to do well, that maybe are just not playing quite with the same freedom and confidence that good results and a better position in the table help you to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo let\u2019s see what happens. It\u2019s the next game, that\u2019s what we focus on and we learn again from whatever happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, Leicester announced an off-field restructure with Kevin Davies appointed CEO, director of football Jon Rudkin has moved to a chief football officer role, while James McCarron will join from the City Football Group as sporting director.<\/p>\n
Results are very evenly balanced historically with Town winning 27 games between the sides (27 in the league), Leicester 28 (26) and 21 (20) ending in draws.<\/p>\n
The Blues are currently without a win in seven against the Foxes with their most recent victory a 1-0 home success under Mick McCarthy in March 2013 in which David McGoldrick – a future Leicester target – scored his second goal for the club. England skipper Harry Kane was in the Foxes line-up that day during his spell on loan.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In December at the King Power Stadium, Town were beaten 3-1 by Leicester City. Bobby De Cordova-Reid\u2019s 25-yard strike gave the home side the lead in the eighth minute, then Abdul Fatawu made it 2-0 when he lofted the ball over Blues keeper Walton from 15 yards inside his own half two minutes prior to the break.<\/p>\n
Before Town could hit back after the restart, the Foxes made it 3-0 through Jordan Ayew on 52.<\/p>\n
The Blues kept pushing and Jens Cajuste was gifted his first goal of the season on 71 but Town were unable to find a way back into the game.<\/p>\n
The teams last met at Portman Road in November 2025 when Ayew netted in the 94th minute to deny 10-man Town their first Premier League victory of the season as the Blues and Leicester drew 1-1. <\/p>\n
Davis gave Town the lead with a superb volley, his first top-flight goal on his 100th appearance for the club, on 55 but the Blues were reduced in number for the second successive game when Kalvin Phillips was harshly dismissed for a second bookable offence, seconds after Conor Chaplin had been denied a clear penalty.<\/p>\n
The 10 men held out until the fourth minute of injury time when Ayew levelled for the Foxes with Town unhappy that Sam Morsy may have been fouled early in the build-up.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Town striker George Hirst signed from Leicester in the summer of 2023 for \u00a31.5 million following his successful loan spell in the second half of the previous season.<\/p>\n
Hirst made only two senior sub appearances for the Foxes having joined them from Belgian side OH Leuven in the summer of 2019.<\/p>\n
Blues forward Kasey McAteer came through the youth ranks at Leicester having joined them aged eight and went on to make 27 starts and 29 sub appearances, scoring eight goals, before joining Town in the summer.<\/p>\n
Town central defender Kipre was recruited to the Leicester academy as an U18, moving on three years later without having made a senior appearance.<\/p>\n
Blues manager McKenna spent time working in the Leicester academy while a student at Loughborough University.<\/p>\n
Town fitness coach Jon Ashton came through the Foxes\u2019 youth set-up before going on to make three starts and seven sub appearances prior to departing for Oxford in 2003. <\/p>\n
Leicester keeper Begovic, now 38, was on loan with the Blues for nearly two months in the first half of 2009\/10. The Bosnian international joined the Foxes last summer after a season at Everton.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s referee is John Busby, his assistants Ian Cooper and Mark Dwyer, and the fourth official Gavin Ward.<\/p>\n
Oxfordshire-based Busby has shown 81 yellow cards and four red – among them Leicester\u2019s De Cordova-Reid in last month\u2019s 2-1 defeat at Birmingham – in 20 games so far this season.<\/p>\n
Busby\u2019s most recent Town match was the 1-1 draw with Preston North End in January when he awarded the Blues a 90th-minute penalty after Clarke had been felled, the winger netting from the spot.<\/p>\n
However, the former Sunderland man was shoved over again before the end, which manager McKenna thought ought to have resulted in another penalty, as should an incident moments afterwards when a Preston player handled inside the area.<\/p>\n
Busby was also in the middle at Bristol City in September when he also awarded the Blues a penalty, which was again converted by Clarke, after Chuba Akpom was fouled. He also cautioned Davis, Matusiwa and four home players.<\/p>\n
Prior to that, the Blues had won five games in a row when he had been in charge, the last of that run the 2-1 victory at Swansea in February 2024 in which he yellow-carded Davis and one home player.<\/p>\n
Busby was in the middle for the 3-1 final-day-of-the-season League One win against a Fleetwood side featuring Burns, who scored in his last game before his move to the Blues, at Portman Road in May 2021, in which he booked only two of the visitors.<\/p>\n
He also took control of the 2-0 home victory over Blackpool in February the same year, yellow-carding Myles Kenlock, Luke Matheson and two Tangerines.<\/p>\n
The scoreline was also 2-0 to Town when he was in charge of Town when Rochdale were at Portman Road in September 2020, booking Jon Nolan and two visiting players.<\/p>\n
Before that he refereed the 2-1 win at Tranmere in January 2020 when he showed yellow cards to Emyr Huws and Will Norris as well as three home players.<\/p>\n
Busby was also in the man in the middle for the Blues\u2019 2-0 defeat to Rotherham at Portman Road in October 2019 when he cautioned Gwion Edwards and three Millers.<\/p>\n
Walton, Palmer, Williamson, Furlong, Johnson, Davis, O\u2019Shea (c), Greaves, Kipre, Matusiwa, Cajuste, Neil, Taylor, Clarke, Burns, Walle Egeli, McAteer, Nunez, Mehmeti, Akpom, Hirst, Azon.<\/p>\n
Photo: TWTD<\/p>\n
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