Foxes here for the top of the table clash

It's being billed as the big game and rightly so but it's not the first time we've been involved in a first versus second game this season. It wasn't the reverse fixture at the King Power Stadium, we were top then but Leicester were third, but our home game against QPR in October when they were right behind us in the table.

This one has taken on extra significance given that we, although not at the end of the season, are probably on the last bend before that straight run to the finishing line. The truth is we've still got over 17% of our season to play.

We know a win would take us level on points with Leicester at the top, and we know a two goal win will take us ahead of them on goal difference. The seven point lead they held over us has been reduced in the last week to three with them having two draws.

One game at a time says Ben Mee

Last night, at the question and answer evening, manager Sean Dyche was not prepared to discuss anything past the next game. He repeatedly smiled at any attempt to go beyond that and let people know that this is how we do it.

On paper, there is no doubt this is the toughest game we've got left against a team who have gone even longer without losing a game than we have. But, as Dyche has said, it is no more important than any other game in that there are three points to play for.

Every time we get points it moves us on to what will, in eight games time, be our final total. It would be brilliant if we could get above Leicester and go on to win this league for the first time in 41 years, but what is more important is that we remain ahead of all the other 22 teams in the league.

Fifteen of those teams cannot mathematically catch us now so, as was said last night, we are guaranteed a top nine finish no matter what happens. Looking at the table right now I would say we are edging ever closer to the top two place we want.

I've no idea how many points it will take; I'd pull all my remaining hair out if I tried to work out all the permutations so it is one game at a time for me and we'll see where we end the season.

What I do know is that we've secured more points than we've ever done at this level (obviously since the league went to three points for a win) and the last time we won 22 games in a season at this level was 41 years ago; that season we won 24 out of 42 games and ended the season a long way ahead of third place in the last ever season when only two clubs were promoted.

So, to tomorrow. Dyche has called it the one club mentality and it does appear very much as though everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.

Ben Mee, who played against us for Leicester three years ago next month, has confirmed that it will be the same approach to this game as all the others. He said today: "We've been doing it all season, just taking one game at a time. The gaffer has drilled it into us.

"Everyone has jumped on board with it and it has been effective for us, so there is no need to change. The lads are motivated in a way that is calm and we go about our business in a real professional manner."

He added: "Leicester have a good record so hopefully it's going to be a good performance from us and the right result in the end, but the job won't be done on Saturday no matter what the score.

"There will be a buzz around the place if we win but we have to do the professional thing and look to the next game. There are seven games left after that so we have to focus on them."

I thought Mee had an exceptional game in the win against Doncaster on Tuesday and he'll line up in a Burnley side that, unfortunately, will have to show a change with Dean Marney having received his tenth yellow card of the season meaning he'll serve a suspension for this game and next Saturday at Watford.

Danny Ings remains sidelined with his ankle injury and Dyche has suggested that it might not be wise to use him, but did add that he would see.

Should Trippier be fit then I'd expect latest signing Chris Baird to move into the midfield area alongside David Jones; if not then I suspect one of Ross Wallace or Michael Kightly will come in.

Last time Marney was out we used David Edgar and then, after the debacle of Huddersfield, replaced him with Brian Stock who, as far as we know, remains out injured with a back problem.

Should Tripps not be risked then we could line up: Tom Heaton, Chris Baird, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Junior Stanislas, Scott Arfield, David Jones, Michael Kightly, Sam Vokes, Ashley Barnes. Subs: Alex Cisak, Kevin Long, Danny Lafferty, David Edgar, Steven Hewitt, Ross Wallace, Keith Treacy.

When we visited Leicester in mid-December we took on a side that had lost its previous two games. They'd gone down 2-1 at Sheffield Wednesday and then lost 3-1 at Brighton, a game that saw Ashley Barnes score twice, his last ever goals for the Sussex club.

Moving on over three and a half months they remain Leicester's last league defeats. After the draw against us they then went on to win the next nine games and overall, starting with our 1-1 draw there they have now played 18 league games without defeat, two more than us.

They went to the top of the league on Boxing Day, replacing us after our last defeat at Middlesbrough, and they've stayed there since and at just over a week ago  had gone seven points clear of the field before the draws against Blackburn and Yeovil in the last week.

They go into this clash as clear promotion and title favourites. They still retain a three point lead over us and they have a game in hand.

With nine games remaining they have secured 82 points and that's a fantastic response to the massive disappointment of their dramatic defeat in the play-offs last season at Watford, something that Nigel Pearson has been convinced has driven them on this season.

In those games they've scored 70 goals, more than any other club in the league. Like us they've benefited from two players having scored plenty of goals. Danny Ings and Sam Vokes have scored 40 of our 64 goals and for Leicester 33 of their goals have come from David Nugent and Jamie Vardy, albeit almost half of Nugent's have come from the penalty spot.

They are certainly no two man team. In midfield is Danny Drinkwater who was nominated for the Sky Bet Championship Player of the Year. He finished third with Nugent and Vardy both in the top ten, and in the wide positions players such as Anthony Knockaert and Lloyd Dyer, who was on the bench in midweek, can cause a massive threat.

Then there is Kevin Phillips. Coming to the end of his career now he signed a short term deal in January and has already chipped in with a couple of goals including the vital late goal in the 1-0 home win against Bournemouth.

This is definitely the big game for us now and likely to be the most difficult game either of us face in the remainder of the season.

Nigel Pearson has no injury problems and will select from the squad that drew with Yeovil in midweek. That team was: Kasper Schmeichel, Ritchie De Laet, Wes Morgan, Marcin Wasilewski (Lloyd Dyer), Jeff Schlupp, Anthony Knockaert, Danny Drinkwater, Matty James, Riyad Mahrez, David Nugent (Kevin Phillips), Jamie Vardy (Chris Wood). Subs: Conrad Logan, Andy King, Dean Hammond, Liam Moore.

Last Time They Were Here

The home game against Leicester last season was the game that brought the curtain down on 2012. We went into the game having played really well in drawing 2-2 at Birmingham in the last pre-Christmas game and then returning home to beat Derby 2-0 on Boxing Day.

Hopes were high but this was a disappointing game that was decided, typically, by a David Nugent goal  on the half hour.

250th league appearance for Michael Duff

Manager Sean Dyche made one change to the team that had beaten Derby with Keith Treacy replacing Martin Paterson, but the good news for the Clarets was that Charlie Austin had been passed fit.

Paterson had been in poor form; he'd missed a number of simple chances in the previous few games and the crowd had started to get on his back, but he was soon back into action in this game when Austin's afternoon lasted less than eight minutes.

It was a poor game but Leicester did look the better of the two sides for most of it but it was a scrappy goal that decided the outcome. From a long throw Wes Morgan got the better of Michael Duff, playing his 250th league game for the Clarets. It might well have been a penalty as Duff held him but the referee let it go and when he got the ball across the six yard line there was Nugent, getting the better of a static Jason Shackell, to convert from close range.

Our best period came early in the second half when Treacy got in two very good crosses, but neither came to anything and the second half soon followed a similar pattern to the first with Leicester looking to be in control of things.

A significant substitution came on 57 minutes. Sam Vokes was introduced, coming on for Ross Wallace. The Burnley crowd had been demanding a starting place for Vokes since his goal against Blackburn and the ironic applause was really the first audible reaction to the disapproval of new manager Sean Dyche.

In fairness, nothing much changed in the game and the game petered out with Leicester, despite not looking particularly good, deserving of the points, and in the late stages of the game they might well have increased their lead.

The teams were;

Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Danny Lafferty, Dean Marney, Chris McCann, Ross Wallace (Sam Vokes 57), Danny Ings, Keith Treacy (Brian Stock 83), Charlie Austin (Martin Paterson 8). Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Luke O'Neill, David Edgar, Marvin Bartley.

Leicester: Kasper Schmeichel, Ritchie De Laet, Wes Morgan, Liam Moore, Paul Konchesky, Matty James, Danny Drinkwater, Ben Marshall, Anthony Knockaert (Martyn Waghorn 61), Lloyd Dyer (Paul Gallagher 83), David Nugent (Marko Futacs 86). Subs not used: Conrad Logan, Jeffrey Schlupp, Andy King, Michael Keane.

Previous Games against Leicester

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