Match Preview: Fulham (League Cup Second Round)

Wednesday’s trip to Craven Cottage is the first of three games in six days for the Foxes. Whilst City face entirely different prospects in each match, from Fulham they can expect the first quality opposition this season. Roy Hodgson worked miracles with the Cottagers last season and, having added to his squad with some very wise acquisitions, City will do well to progress to the 3rd Round.

Previous Meetings
Leicester’s last visit to Craven Cottage came in the FA Cup just two seasons ago. Early into the second half of a 3rd Round replay the Foxes found themselves in a 3-1 lead only to succumb to a brace from Vincenzo Montella and a 90th minute winner from Wayne Routledge.

In their last Premier League encounters Fulham did the double over City. A double strike from Luis Boa Morte gave Fulham a 2-0 win in 2003, whilst Collins John effectively relegated Micky Adams’ side at the Walkers Stadium with two goals of his own.

Reasons To Be Confident
City have recorded their best start for 11 years and having conceded just one goal share the best defensive record in League One with Stockport County.

The Foxes are scoring goals. Matty Fryatt in particular deserves a mention for already topping his scoring total from last season. In 2007/08 the Fryarstarter netted just three times in 35 appearances.

Fulham’s recent record in the League Cup is far from pretty. They’ve failed to make it past the 3rd Round in any of the last 3 seasons and were the subject of a particularly embarrassing 2-1 home defeat to Wycombe in 2006/07.

Reasons To Be Worried
Andrew Johnson could be fit enough to make his debut tomorrow for Fulham. If he starts City could face all sorts of defensive problems. The striker, recently signed from Everton, is in the process of shaking of a thigh injury.

In the last four seasons Leicester have won three and lost five cup ties against Premier League opposition.

Fulham 1-0 Arsenal.

Selected Odds
Fulham – 8/13 (Ladbrokes)
Draw – 14/5 (Bet365)
Leicester – 11/2 (Bet365)

Match Review: Tranmere Rovers

Yesterday left many Foxes fans wondering how a striker with no pace, a terrible first touch, an inability to beat his defender and, until Saturday, had shown no inklings of being able to head the ball suddenly finds himself joint top scorer in League One alongside Richard Lambert of Bristol Rovers. Numbers are Matty Fryatt’s friend at present, but surely his tally is due at least in part to the terrible defending Leicester have faced thus far.

Here are some other numbers to digest after yesterday’s win…

2 – This was the first time a match between Leicester and Tranmere had been settled by two clear goals. The 3-1 margin did much to hide the concern some fans held in stoppage time before Fryatt finished Rovers following a session of head tennis.

11 – The number of seasons you have to go back to find a City side taking seven points from their opening three games. This is City’s best start since the 1997/98 campaign, when their opponents were Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester United. The last time City went unbeaten in their opening three matches was in 2000/01 under Peter Taylor, but that side could only manage one win and two draws. Leicester City have yet to win their opening three league fixtures in the post-war era.

33/1 – The odds you would have got on Steve Howard opening the scoring and City winning 3-1. I suspect that barring my dad (the jammy so and so) few punters would have been collecting winnings from this result.

Match Preview: Tranmere Rovers

Perhaps the only thing stopping City fans feeling overly buoyant about the Foxes start to the 2008/09 campaign is the strength of opposition. Some consider the Foxes fortunate to have faced promoted sides in their first two league games. The fixture list has certainly enabled Leicester to land on their feet. Enter stage left Tranmere Rovers. The Merseysiders have League One written all over them. This is Rovers’ eighth season at this level after relegation in 2001. City are about to be introduced to the moribund football of the 3rd tier. An unprepared Leicester side could be in for their first scrap of the season.

Previous Meetings
The last time these two sides met was in much happier circumstances for both teams. In 2000 Rovers were led by John Aldridge. Somehow he’d managed to lead a team of freebies and loans to a major cup final. Unfortunately for Aldridge and Tranmere, they faced Leicester in the heyday of the O’Neil years. City won the final Worthington Cup final 2-1. For both clubs its been downhill ever since.

The overall record stands at six wins for the Foxes, three wins for the Super Whites and a further three draws. Rovers last recorded a win over the Foxes in November 1995. A solitary goal from Ian Moore was enough to defeat Mark McGhee’s men at Filbert Street.

Reasons To Be Confident
Leicester have yet to concede a goal and are one of only four teams in the entire Football League with a pristine defensive record.

Tranmere have gone ten games without a win away from Prenton Park. Its been six matches since they took any points at all on the road. Swindon Town comfortably beat Rovers on the opening day at the County Ground and a further Carling Cup defeat at Grimsby seem to indicate this record is set to continue.

Tranmere aren’t exactly comeback specialists. When their opponents scored first in 2007/08 Tranmere managed one win, four draws and 14 defeats.

Reasons To Be Worried
No game between these two sides has ever been settled by more than one goal. In this fixture these is no such thing as a two-goal cushion.

In the last six meetings between the two sides there have been three own goals. Neil Lennon was the last City player to put through his own net against Tranmere.

There are suspiciously few statistics which point towards a Tranmere victory. Pessimists unite!

Selected Odds
Leicester – 8/11 (Blue Sq)
Draw – 13/5 (Bet365)
Tranmere – 9/2 (Bet365)

Away Days

One of the more unconventional statistics about Leicester’s first two League One opponents was that both MK Dons’ and Stockport’s promotions were due in part at least to very impressive away records. In both instances, the teams took more points on the road than in front of their home fans. MK Dons were the most extreme case, taking 17 more points away than at stadium:mk.

So how important has away form in League One been to teams chasing promotion to the Championship?

After City’s goalless draw at Stockport many fans consoled themselves with a cliché, if you win your home games and draw away, promotion is yours. Of course it isn’t really that simple and the Foxes will need more than away draws to secure promotion.

In the last four seasons;

• No team has been promoted automatically taking less than 30 points away from home.
• Only two teams have won less than 10 games on the road and gone straight up.
• All automatically promoted sides have at least a top 5 away record, more than half had the first or second best away form that season.
• The average number of away points taken by automatically promoted clubs from League One has been 38.
• The average number of away points taken by teams who’ve finished second is 33.

In the absence of good finishing, City failed to turn 1 point into 3 at Edgeley Park last weekend. It was certainly two away points dropped. What is clear from these numbers is that Leicester cannot rely on their home form alone, especially as teams will play a far more compressed game at the Walkers Stadium than on their own patch.

However, what these numbers also show is how rare it is for promoted sides to take more points on their travels. Of the eight sides automatically promoted since 2004 only one, Swansea City, has performed better away.

On the basis of these numbers the target for City should be a solid total of 10 away wins. Since the turn of the century only one team (AFC Bournemouth) has won 10 games away from home in this division and failed to make the play-offs.

Some better finishing on Saturday might have meant City only needed a further nine.

Match Review: Stockport County

3 games, 3 goals, 3 clean sheets, 3rd place, how efficient. Post-match Pearson talked up the positives and City can certainly have a right to be pleased with their start.

Here are some numbers to mull over...

1 – The number of times Matty Fryatt has scored in consecutive starts for Leicester, today was his 90th appearance in a Leicester shirt. Steve Howard has yet to score in consecutive matches for the club. Perhaps in hindsight the goalless draw at 17/2 would have been a good bet.

2 – The number of games involving Stockport that finished 0-0 last season. Leicester were involved in seven scoreless encounters in 2008/09. They failed to score in 19 league games, that’s 41.3% of their matches.

4 – The number of teams in the Football League who have yet to concede a goal. Leicester are joined in this list by Reading, Watford and Shrewsbury. The Foxes already have the best defence in League One.

17 – The number of clean sheets Leicester managed in 2007/08. With two already in the bag it looks as if reaching the 20+ mark would not be an unreasonable target for City.

Statistic of the day goes to BBC Radio Leicester’s Ian Stringer: Leicester have never won on the 16th August. Remarkable.

Match Preview: Stockport County

Quirks in the fixture calendar like this aren’t enough to force an urge to find out when the last occurrence like it involving City took place. It’s doubtful anything will top Arsenal and Liverpool facing each other three times in a week anyway. The Foxes are looking for back-to-back league wins and their third win on the spin. Lets look at the numbers...

Past Meetings
City’s last trip to Edgeley Park was back in 1924 when, for what it’s worth, Leicester took the points in a 2-0 win. Stockport’s last victory over Leicester at home came earlier in the same year; it was a 3-1 victory in the old Division Two.

City only looked comfortable after Stockport were reduced to 10 men on Tuesday night, but further changes are expected to the line-up so it would be unwise to read too much into the game.

Reasons To Be Confident
In modern times this is something of a roll for Leicester, two wins coupled with two clean sheets. Pearson will be hoping to build on last weeks win and keep City’s 100% record. As previously noted, City need at least seven points from their opening four fixtures to get over 50% of points available. Click here to find out why that’s so important.

Leicester’s away form was nowhere near as bad as their home record last season. City’s haul of 24 points away from the Walkers last year was the 13th best record in the Championship. By comparison the Foxes had the 23rd best (or perhaps more accurately, 2nd worst) home record last term.

Steve Howard and Matty Fryatt scored in the same week and the world didn’t end. Perhaps anything is possible in League One.

Reasons To Be Worried
Nobody beat Stockport 1-0 last season. In fact, Stockport only failed to score on four occasions. They may have lost their three top scorers from 2007/08, but County under Jim Gannon clearly feel attack is the best form of defence. City’s back line will need to be on guard.

The last time Leicester won three consecutive games was in February 2007. City won 2-0 at Ipswich, 3-0 at home to Coventry and 1-0 at Burnley to give Rob Kelly some breathing space at the beginning of the Mandarić era. It was part of a sequence that saw Leicester go six games unbeaten - dizzy heights indeed.

The bookmakers have Leicester down as favourites for the game. This is uncharted territory. Leicester were not favourites for a single away game last season. Their record as favourites was hardly stellar in 2007/08. City won 6, drew 7 and lost 8 when the bookies had them down for a victory. A wise man would keep that loose fiver in thier back pocket this weekend, but if you must have a flutter...

Selected Odds
Stockport – 21/10 (Bet365)
Draw – 23/10 (Bet365)
Leicester – 13/10 (Bet365)

Match Review: Stockport County (League Cup First Round)

A phrase City fans haven’t been able to utter for 15 months can now banded about without the necessity of touching wood, crossing fingers or any other number of jinx averting techniques, “consecutive wins”. Well done lads, it only took 15 months!

Here’s some numbers from last night’s game.

150 – The number of days since Steve Howard’s last competitive goal in a Leicester shirt. Howard’s barren spell began after his hat-trick at West Brom. Howard got as many yellow cards as goals last season.

66% - City’s record against 10 men last season. The Foxes managed to beat West Brom and Norwich after players were dismissed but failed to make their numerical advatage count against Watford at Vicarage Road. City were reduced to 10 on four occasions last season, taking just 1 point from those games in a goalless draw at Scunthorpe.

7,386 – Last night’s attendance may seem small, but it’s actually more than City got for some other early League Cup fixtures at the Walkers. Just 6,751 saw City dumped out in the 2nd Round 3-2 after extra-time against Preston in 2004/05. Coincidentally, last night’s turnout is exactly the same as the attendance for the 2nd Round tie against Blackpool in 2005/06. A brace for Mark de Vries was enough for Leicester that night as City won 2-1.