Leicester are second home opponents

Last updated : 21 August 2010 By Tony Scholes

It has been a decent start to the season in those first two games, and I would think anyone would be happy with having picked up four points from them, including the point gained from that late goal last week.

We've looked reasonably solid and, although not a cause for concern, it would be good to see us creating a few more chances and adding to the two goals we've already scored.

Chris Iwelumo got the goal in the opening day win over Nottingham Forest, a diving header from a Wade Elliott cross and last week Clarke Carlisle finally got the monkey off the back and netted from a corner, our first such goal since the end of the 2008/09 season.

We'll be looking to get our first home win against Leicester since a John Spicer goal, his first league goal for the Clarets, gave us a 1-0 win against them almost five years ago.

Our Opponents


Leicester have just enjoyed a couple of good years under Nigel Pearson's management. He arrived at the club after they'd suffered relegation to League One under Ian Holloway (and a good few other managers) at the end of the 2007/08 season.

Pearson led them to promotion at the first attempt and one year on from that they finished in fifth place but went out on penalties in the play off semi-finals to Cardiff in a tie that had ended 3-3 on aggregate.

Much was expected of them this season with Pearson planning and bringing in new players during the summer, but then that all changed when the manager decided to accept the vacancy at Hull City following their relegation.

Almost immediately Leicester appointed Swansea and former QPR boss Paulo Sousa and he's made a couple of signings since taking over, those of Miguel Vitor on a season long loan from Benfica and Joao Moreno from Vitoria Guimaraes.

The big news, however, came last week, with the takeover by a group led by Thai businessman Aiyawatt Rakriaksorn of the King Power Group who had previously signed up as the club's shirt sponsors.

On the field, Leicester lost their first game at Palace before earning a point from a goalless draw against Middlesbrough, a game they probably should have won. They have also won through to the second round of the Carling Cup with a close home win over League Two Macclesfield Town.

Click HERE to see Leicester's results this season


Team News


Defenders Miguel Vitor and Aleksandar Tunchev have both been ruled out so far this season and neither are expected to be fit for the game today.

One change could see Paul Gallagher come in. Again he's been out injured but was fit enough to go on the bench last week in the home game against Middlesbrough and he came on for Andy King and played the last sixteen minutes.

If Gallagher comes in it is likely to be the only change from the side that played Middlesbrough which was: Chris Weale, Robbie Neilson, Jack Hobbs, Joao Moreno, Bruno Berner, Andy King, Matt Oakley, Richie Wellens, DJ Campbell, Steve Howard, Lloyd Dyer. Subs: Conrad Logan, Tom Kennedy, Michael Lamey, Michael Morrison, Dany N'Guessan, Paul Gallagher, Matt Fryatt.

Click HERE to see the full Leicester squad


Defensively there is some good news for Burnley and some not so good news. The good news sees a return to fitness for right back Tyrone Mears who missed last week's draw at Ipswich with a shin injury. It was the first league action he's missed since becoming our first signing during the summer of 2009.

He'll come straight back in because David Edgar must now sit out a one match ban following his two yellow cards and subsequent dismissal last week. Michael Duff is also likely to be missing again. He suffered a calf injury during the first game against Forest.

I would expect Mears for Edgar to be the only change from last week and expect us to line up: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Andre Bikey, Danny Fox, Graham Alexander, Wade Elliott, Dean Marney, Martin Paterson, Chris Iwelumo, Ross Wallace. Subs: Lee Grant, Leon Cort, Jack Cork, Kevin McDonald, Chris Eagles, Steven Thompson, Jay Rodriguez.

Last Time We Met


David Unsworth
David Unsworth - scored his only Burnley goal
Burnley and Leicester had met at the Crisp Bowl only a few weeks earlier but things were very different when the Foxes arrived at Turf Moor for the return match.

At Leicester both sides were in the charges of caretaker managers, Frank Burrows for the home side and Steve Davis for Burnley, after the departures of Gary Megson and Steve Cotterill respectively. By the time the home match was played the new men were in place with Owen Coyle in charge of Burnley for the second time at home and Ian Holloway the new Leicester manager.

It was a pretty drab start to the game with neither side offering much in the first quarter of an hour but it was Burnley who finally made a mark on the game. Much of it came from Wade Elliott out on the right wing and it was from a right wing cross that set up or first chance for Robbie Blake.

Blake delayed his shot and allowed goalkeeper Marton Fulop to save at the expense of a corner that Blake himself took. He got the ball back and made a run into the box before laying it back for David Unsworth to hammer home what was his first and only goal for the Clarets.

That really lifted us and we started to play some really good football and should certainly have added to the lead before half time but we took that one goal lead into the interval.

After the break we created a number of good opportunities but too often we were wasteful with the main culprit Kyle Lafferty. This was the game when the Northern Ireland international became upset with some of the comments on the Clarets Mad message board, made worse when he was at fault for Leicester's much undeserved equaliser from Iain Hume some twelve minutes from the end.

Despite all our efforts we couldn't find a winner and had to settle for a point against a very disappointing Leicester side who would be relegated at the end of the season.

The teams were;

Burnley: Gabor Kiraly, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, David Unsworth, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Chris McCann, Alan Mahon (Joey Gudjonsson 79), Kyle Lafferty, Robbie Blake (Steve Jones 87), Andy Gray. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, James O'Connor, Ade Akinbiyi.

Leicester: Marton Fulop, Richard Stearman, Patrick Kisnorbo, Gareth McAuley, Joe Mattock, Alan Maybury (Ashley Chambers 71), Darren Kenton, Stephen Clemence, Alan Sheehan (Andy King 72), Carl Cort, Iain Hume. Subs not used: Paul Henderson, Bruno N'Gotty, Shaun Newton.

Previous games against Leicester


Previous 20 Seasons

Season

Div

Ven

Result

Att

Scorers

1995/96

LC

a

0-2

11,142

.

..

a

0-2

4,553

.

2002/03

1

a

1-0

26,254

I Moore

..

h

1-2

14,554

Sinclair(og)

2004/05

C

a

0-0

22,495

.

..

h

0-0

10,933

.

2005/06

C

a

1-0

23,326

Akinbiyi

..

h

1-0

12,592

Spicer

2006/07

C

a

1-0

19,035

Gray

..

h

0-1

10,274

.

2007/08

C

a

1-0

21,334

Gray

..

h

1-0

10,688

Unsworth



Click HERE to see all our results against Leicester