Match Review: Leicester City 3-2 Dagenham & Redbridge

Leicester twice came from behind to book themselves a 3rd Round FA Cup home tie with Neil Warnock’s Crystal Palace. Whether you prefer this arrangement to an away trip to Hartlepool is down to personal preference. I don’t suppose anyone who’d planned the long journey north is relishing the opportunity to make it on a Tuesday night instead.

Here are some numbers…

19 – Matty Fryatt has now scored more goals in a single season than any Leicester striker since Paul Dickov scored 20 in the 2002/03 campaign. It’s only November.

3 – Steve Howard was the last Leicester striker to hit a hat-trick in the 4-1 win at West Brom last season. Leicester hat-tricks have been few and far between in recent years. David Conolly hit three past Stoke in City's first home fixture of 2005/06. We then have to go back to 22nd February 2003 to find Paul Dickov’s triple against Wimbledon.

4 – The 2-2 half-time scoreline meant that this was the highest scoring first half City have been involved in for over four and a half years. The last time four goals were scored before the break came on 22nd February 2004 when City found themselves 3-1 down at Spurs. That match eventually finished 4-4.

Match Preview: Crewe Alexandra

The contrast literally could not be more vivid. After facing a team top of the league, full of confidence and with the highest goal scoring record in League One, City, now top themselves, face the divisions no hopers Crewe. Tuesday night presents an entirely different challenge for Leicester. Scunthorpe had no trouble coming out of their shell to face the Foxes, Dario Gradi will be happy if during his temporary reign he can construct a shell from which his players might emerge from time to time, stealing points in places they really ought not to. Places like the Walkers Stadium.

Every time City have hit top spot this season they have failed to capitalise on the momentum. Leicester fans will hope the Foxes take all three points from an eminently winnable home game against lacklustre opposition.

Key Stats
The form book is the first point of reference. Leicester are unbeaten in their last four matches and haven’t been defeated in their last seven at home. Crewe have lost three on the bounce and haven’t won a league match since the beat Colchester in mid September, some 11 games ago. The Railwaymen haven’t won away from home since April.

Past meetings have been few and far between. Crewe have never beaten the Foxes in a competitive fixture, but equally Leicester haven’t beaten Crewe since 1895. The last four league meetings between the two sides have been score draws.

You won’t get much better than 4/11 on a Leicester win, so here’s a quick betting tip: Go for the double result. For the uninitiated, the double result is betting on the result at half time and the result full time. So if you think the scores will be level at half time, but Crewe will pinch a cheeky goal in the second half you’d bet Draw-Crewe. There are technically nine possible outcomes here, but 15 of 17 Leicester matches have involved just 3.

Leicester-Leicester
Draw-Leicester
Draw-Draw

Each of these outcomes has occurred five times and the form guide suggests tomorrow night will not shake this pattern. So if you fancy a flutter, you’d do well to pick from this section of your betting slip.

On This Day
A Leicester line-up of Royce, Sinclair, Davidson, Rowett, Elliott, Taggart, Lennon, Savage, Izzet, Akinbiyi and Benjamin crashed to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur. Les Ferdinand’s hat-trick ensured City suffered only their second away defeat of the 2000/01 season but remained in fourth pace ahead of Liverpool, Aston Villa and in 14th position, Chelsea.

Selected Odds
Leicester – 4/11 (totesport)
Draw – 4/1 (Coral)
Crewe – 9/1 (Bet365)

Match Review: Scunthorpe Utd 1-2 Leicester City

Where are all the Andy King haters now?

The Welsh U21 international surprised many by making Nigel Pearson’s first competitive team sheet, but he’s repaid the manager’s faith in spades. Ever-present in League One, King now has five goals to his name in all competitions. Yesterday’s inspired strike was the most valuable yet. Along with Lloyd Dyer and Matt Oakley, King has helped City’s midfield to 13 of the Foxes 29 league goals this term. Last season less than 10% of Leicester’s goals came from midfield.

Here are some more numbers…

36% - Yesterday City had their lowest share of possession all season. You have to go back nine matches to find a game in which City had less of the ball than their opponents. The figure is dramatically smaller than City’s previous low, 44% at Hartlepool in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. The effects of Steve Howard’s absence are obvious.

12 – Despite their meagre share of the ball, City still managed to fire 12 attempts on goal. The Foxes have only failed to manage double figures in two league matches, the opening day of the season and last week’s trip to Swindon Town. Leicester’s shooting accuracy in all competitions currently stands at 53%.

18 – The number of points Leicester have taken away from home, one point more than their haul at the Walkers Stadium. City share this curious record with MK Dons who have taken four more points on their travels. The Dons are no strangers to this, last season they took 17 more points away than at stadium:mk.

Match Preview: Scunthorpe United

For a stadium less than 20 years old Glanford Park already seems pathetically out of date. 838 Leicester fans made the trip last season for a game they could have watched in the pub and, after a dire 90 minutes with barely two real goal scoring opportunities, most probably wished they had.

Gary Megson’s penultimate game in charge of the Foxes (his sixth of seven league matches) finished 0-0 and provided a microcosm of the entire year. During Megson's reign City only conceded five goals, but managed to score just four times themselves.

Megson’s league record in charge of Leicester City: P7 W1 D4 L2 F4 A5 Pts7.

Key Stats
Scunthorpe have the fourth best home record in League One and haven’t lost at Glanford Park for 10 matches. But fans of the Iron must share the same concern as the Foxes with every wobbly result, there’s a sense in the numbers that Scunthorpe are doing well to paper over some cracks. For instance, half of Scunthorpe’s 20 goals conceded have come in the last four matches.

Fortunately for the Iron, 32 goals at the other end have made Nigel Adkins' side League One’s top scorers. Unlike Leicester, Scunthorpe’s goals are coming from every department. 12 Scunthorpe players have put their names on the score sheet this season, with nine opening the scoring. The Iron have only failed to score once in League One this season. By contrast only eight Leicester players have scored this season, with only Matty Fryatt, Steve Howard, Lloyd Dyer and Matt Oakley scoring first.

Both sides are more than capable of throwing points away. Scunthorpe have cost themselves 10 points this season in games they have led. The Foxes have dropped seven points this season, all from their last three away games. Nigel Pearson’s side have not won away from the Walkers Stadium since 4th October.

On This Day
Les Ferdinand’s goal in his 400th league appearance looked to have given City all three points at home to Charlton on this day in 2003. A hotly disputed Paolo Di Canio penalty ensured the spoils were shared. November was City’s best month in their last Premier League campaign. This draw was the only blot on an otherwise excellent month that produced three wins for Micky Adams’ men. At the time, City were above Spurs, Blackburn and Aston Villa.

Selected Odds
Scunthorpe – 6/4 (Bet365)
Draw – 12/5 (Sky Bet)
Leicester – 15/8 (BlueSq)

Match Review: Swindon Town 2-2 Leicester City

City have reached the end of nine matches in a month with a record in all competitions of three wins, four draws and two defeats. How much more impressive that record might have been but for City’s inability to close out leads away from home…

The Foxes now have a week to prepare for the trip to Glanford Park and the top of the table clash against League One leaders Scunthorpe. That’s not a sentence many would have imagined writing at the start of the season.

Here are some numbers…

2 – Leicester have surrendered two goal advantages in three of their last four league games away from home. Lloyd Dyer’s last minute winner at Huddersfield saved the Foxes in October, but since then the Foxes have dropped seven vital points in their last three away fixtures.

11 – In Leicester’s first eight games of 2008/09 the defence was outstanding, conceding just three goals. In their last eight league fixtures, City have conceded 11 goals, netting only 13 themselves. In the first eight matches City kept five clean sheets, in their last eight they’ve kept the opposition at bay only twice. Leicester now share League One’s best defensive record with Stockport County.

25 – The number of players to feature for Leicester so far this season. This is a dramatic improvement on the 41 players who wore the jersey last year, the most of any Championship side in 2007/08 and only a few short of a full NFL squad. Martin Allen appears to be working his magic at Cheltenham already; the number of players used at Whaddon Road this season has already reached 36. For more on the importance of squad stability, see ‘Do Signings Equal Success?’

22 – After picking up his fifth booking of the season yesterday, Steve Howard will miss his first match of the 08/09 campaign at Scunthorpe. Whilst Fryatt, Dyer and King have all been ever-present in the league, Howard was the only remaining Leicester player to start each of City’s 22 matches so far this season.

Match Preview: Swindon Town

There was a certain sense of inevitability about Leicester’s 3rd trip to the top of the table this season. Foxes fans had clung to the Yeovil game in hand as evidence of City’s false position, and so it proved. Now they must defend their one point edge at the top of League One at the County Ground, a venue City haven’t taken three points from since 1971. Feeling confident?

Key Stats
It has been far from dull to be a Swindon fan this season. Every single Swindon Town league game has produced at least two goals. Both sides have registered on the scoresheet in 13 of their 15 league games. Goals will not be in short supply at the County Ground on Saturday. Simon Cox has proven a solid marksman for the Robin’s, with 12 goals to his name already. Yet much like Matty Fryatt, Cox has opened the scoring far less frequently. Only a quarter of his goals have given Swindon first blood.

Swindon must be on something of a downer after a humiliating 1-0 defeat to Histon in the FA Cup last weekend. How Maurice Malpas’ team will react to that result is uncertain, but City must beware the backlash.

Leicester’s lofty position has much to do with their away record. With only one defeat on the road, City’s away form is bettered only by Stockport County (the Hatters remain undefeated on their travels). Yet City are without an away win in three games and have played four of their last five league games at home.

City’s record against teams in the bottom half remains exemplary, they have six wins, one draw and a single defeat this season.

On This Day
Leicester haven’t played on the 15th November since 1992 when they managed a 2-1 win at Roker Park against Sunderland. As I was only six years old at the time, you’ll have to forgive me for lacking a more colourful description of those events.

Selected Odds
Swindon – 9/4 (Paddy Power)
Draw – 12/5 (Bet365)
Leicester – 5/4 (Sky Bet)

Match Preview: Yeovil Town

League One has been loaded with new experiences for Leicester fans, experiences most hoped they would never live to see. Yeovil at home on what is forecast to be a chilly Tuesday evening in November is surely one of them. On this day eight years ago City faced Newcastle Utd at home, now they host a team whos nickname I was forced to google. Victory will take the Foxes top of League One, and the indications are they should manage it.

There have been no previous meetings between Leicester and the Glovers.

Key Stats
Leicester did a professional job of despatching Stevenage at the weekend, even though Matty Fryatt did his best to keep things interesting with that amazing miss. Interestingly, despite being far and away Leicester’s leading goalscorer, Fryatt is behind both Steve Howard and Lloyd Dyer in the first goalscorer category. The Fryarstarter has only opened the scoring on three occasions this season, leaving others to break the deadlock.

A win for City would be their first back to back victories for a month, but Leicester have averaged just a goal a game at home in their last five league outings. The Walkers Stadium seems to be acing less like a fortress and more akin to a pressure cooker. An early goal would settle many nerves, but City have only scored four in the opening 30 minutes so far this season.

Yeovil Town are unbeaten in their last five in all competitions and have kept clean sheets in each of their last three league games. This being said, Russell Slade’s men have been shutout in four of their last five away matches in League One. The Glovers have scored only 14 goals all season, the third worst record in the division. With just three wins all season, confidence is low. Indeed, if City do strike early the numbers look favourable. Yeovil have yet to come back from behind to win and have scored just three goals when conceding first, letting in 12 at the other end.

On This Day
Leicester treated home fans to a grandstand finished on this day in 1998. Trailing at home to Leeds Utd in the League Cup 4th Round thanks to Harry Kewell’s 17th minute effort, Leicester snatched victory with two goals in the dying minutes. First, Muzzy Izzet’s lob levelled the score in the 88th minute, then Gary Parker’s stoppage time penalty put Leicester into a quarter-final with Blackburn.

Selected Odds
Leicester – 4/7 (Blue Square)
Draw – 3/1 (Bet365)
Yeovil – 6/1 (Bet365)

Match Preview: Stevenage Borough (FA Cup 1st Round)

Nigel Pearson summed up City’s defeat at Rotherham in midweek as his sides worst performance of the season. Indeed, it was the first time Leicester have gone out of a cup competition to lower league opposition is over six years. Not since West Brom (then of Division One) put Dave Basset’s soon-to-be-relegated Foxes out of the FA Cup in January 2002 has a City side been beaten by supposedly inferior opposition.

With 52 places separating Leicester and Stevenage, one would like to think the Foxes should have little trouble progressing. Clearly the likes of ITV and Setanta share this opinion, with their cameras pointed at the competition's juicier ties. We’ll get onto the bookies later.

There have been no previous meetings between the two sides.

Whilst Stevenage have made it to at least the 1st round proper of this competition in each of the last five seasons, they haven’t reached the 3rd round since they met Newcastle United in the 1997/98 season.

Key Stats
Stevenage have the Blue Square Premier’s fifth best scoring record, and its fifth worst defence. Boro’ had a pretty terrible start to their Blue Square Premier campaign, winning only once in August and shipping 15 goals. Since then, they’ve conceded only 13 and have climbed to 9th in the table, just five points from division pacesetters Kettering Town. This upsurge in form correlates with the scoring record of striker Steve Morrison. The England C international failed to score in August, but after bagging a hat-trick on the 6th of September now has 10 goals, he’s the club’s leading scorer. Those thinking of placing a cheeky bet on Stevenage forcing a replay would do well to note that Stevenage haven’t drawn an away game for 21 matches. Boro’ have won four of their last six away from home.

Leicester head into the game as red hot favourites. They’re unbeaten at home in five matches. City were last defeated at home in a cup game by Aston Villa in 2006, since then City have only played two cup ties at the Walkers Stadium and nine on the road. We now have to go back five matches to find anyone except Matty Fryatt scoring for the Foxes and certainly some will be wondering what that penalty miss will have done to the striker’s ever fragile confidence. That being said, Fryatt has now netted more times than Leicester’s next three top scorers combined.

On This Day
6’ 8” keeper Zeljko Kalac made one of only two starts for Leicester City in a League Cup 3rd Round Replay at home to Bolton Wanderers on this day in 1995. Kalac had caused concern after mistakes in the previous weekend’s trip to West Brom had seen a comfortable 3-0 advantage reduced to 3-2. This time, Kalac’s antics saw City slump to a 3-2 defeat and led BBC Radio Leicester commentator Geoff Peters to remark, “Kalac sits with his head in his hands…lets hope he doesn’t drop it.” I have yet to find a single Leicester fan who can believe Kalac went on to play in a Champions League Final and the 2006 World Cup.

Selected Odds
Leicester - 4/9 (Blue Square)
Draw – 18/5 (extrabet)
Stevenage – 9/1 (Bet365)

Match Preview: Rotherham Utd (Johnstone’s Paint Trophy northern quarter-final)

After five games in 15 days, City really could have used a week off. Instead at least six of Nigel Pearson’s regular starters will have to endure a cold and probably windy evening at Rotherham Utd’s adopted home.

Leicester are the bookies favourites to win the JPT this season. William Hill price City at 4/1 to lift the trophy in April.

Here are some quick match facts;

Rotherham dumped Leeds out of the competition in the last round to reach this stage. The 4-2 at Don Valley stadium has been the Millers’ only action in the competition thus far after they received a bye in the first round.

Despite the last meeting between these two sides occurring less than four years ago, only one player remains at either club from that day. Even this is stretching the facts somewhat. Paul Hurst, whilst still in the Rotherham squad, hasn’t played in a competitive fixture for Mark Robins’ side since March 2007.

Leicester haven’t lost at Rotherham for 28 years. They have clocked two wins and two draws since a league cup defeat in the 1979/80 season.

As mentioned earlier in the season, five of City’s last six cup exits have come as a result of last minute strikes. Southampton started the rot in 2006 with a 1-0 win at the Walkers in the 3rd Round of the 2005/06 FA Cup. Since then Aston Villa, Fulham (twice) and Chelsea have dumped Leicester out of cup competitions thanks to efforts in the dying seconds. Rotherham have scored four times in the last five minutes in all competitions this season.

Match Review: Leicester City 2-1 Bristol Rovers

Jo Kuffour’s strike on the hour would have been no laughing matter for City fans if The Fryarstarter hadn’t managed to bag his third and fourth goals of the week. Matty Fryatt’s winner in stoppage time put City in touching distance of top spot once again. A win at home next Tuesday to Yeovil Town, recent conquerors of Oldham, will put the Foxes back on top of League One. Just two points separate the top five in a title race that is beginning to look very competitive.

Here are some numbers…

1 – This was Leicester’s first win after being behind this season, they now leave behind a group of only five clubs in League One yet to achieve this feat.

6 – The number of goals Leicester have scored in the last five minutes of League matches. Despite this tally, they’ve only picked up four points from losing positions this season.

12 – Matty Fratt’s four goals this week now place him joint second in the League One hostshots table. Ricky Lambert leads the way with 15, whilst Craig Mackail-Smith’s 12 goals have helped Peterborough Utd to a run of 11 games unbeaten.

19,747 – City’s average home gate this season. The Walkers Stadium has been 61% full for home games so far. Leicester are one of only three sides in League One with an average attendance in five figures.