MATCHPREVIEW
Sunday 4th May 2008
Stoke City vs Leicester City
Coca-Cola Championship
The Britannia Stadium
Kick Off 2.00pm

LEICESTERCITY

Leicester City came into this season full of hope and expectation for the campaign ahead with Milan Mandaric and Martin Allen promising to take the club back up to the Premier League after years of financial problems had made a return to the promise land seemed unlikely to the Foxes fans.

The season didn't get of to the best of starts with a 1-0 home defeat to newly promoted Blackpool, but City's season seemed to have been kick started by a well earned point away to Crystal Palace, followed by a thumbing 4-1 win against Watford.

But Leicester's results never picked up and the relationship between Allen and Mandaric, both two strong characters, became increasingly strained and it was not long before Allen became the latest manager to exit the Walkers Stadium.

Gary Megson was appointed as 'Mad Dog's' replacement, but was out the door having barely sat down at his desk, 6 weeks was all the former West Brom boss lasted before walking out on the Foxes to try his luck at Premier League Bolton Wanderers.

It took nearly a month to find a new man for the job and eventually Mandaric settled on former Bristol Rovers, QPR and Plymouth Argyle boss Ian Holloway.

Holloway made history when he became the first Leicester manager in over 50 years to win his first league game in charge, beating Bristol City 2-0.

Despite this, Leicester went on a torrid run until January when they went on a good run of results which included three wins, two draws and a disappointing loss to Holloway's former club, QPR.

In this run the Foxes beat Ipswich, Coventry and Crystal Palace at the Walkers Stadium.

Some Leicester fans thought they season was about to turn round after a 4-1 victory away at West Brom, but the Foxes have failed to pick up the points they need and now find themselves battling for survival.

MATCHQUOTES

Tony Pulis

"It's a big game and one that everyone is looking forward to.

"Leicester and coming here needing something and everyone knows our position so it should be a cracking game.

"It's been a smashing season in many ways but we're not done yet. We've been very consistent and fingers crossed it will go our way on Sunday.

"It'll be a fascinating day and I'm sure there will be twists and turns.

"We've got to prepare to face a decent side. They've got some very good players.

"I knew Ian from Bristol Rovers. It hasn't surprised me to see him going into management.

"The fans have another chance on the telly to show what great supporters they are."

Ian Holloway

"I will not be keeping track of other games.

"How am I going to do that? I will just be looking at ours and concentrate on how we are going about our job.

"Right now, we still don't really know what we are going to need, except that if we do the same as Southampton then we are going to be safe. But when the game starts, we will be trying to win it.

"It is impossible to say which point is going to turn out to be vital and on Sunday, as I have said before, we might not need one."

"We will be setting ourselves up to attack as much as possible but when we threw ourselves forward against Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday we were punished.

"We can't afford to do that this time. The players have got to look at what is happening and get themselves sorted out. They should have seen the danger last Saturday, got organised and dealt with it."

TRANSFERSIN

Bruno N'Gotty, Birmigham (Free)
Sergio Hellings, Apeldoom (Free)
Radostin Kishishev, Charlton (Signed)
James Chambers, Watford (Free)
Jonathan Hayes, Reading (Signed)
Hossein Kaebi, Perspolis (Signed)
Shaun Newton, West Ham (Free)
Stephen Clemence, Birmingham (£1,000,000)
DJ Campbell, Birmingham (£1,600,000)
Barry Hayles, Plymouth (Signed)
Steve Howard, Derby (£1,500,000)
Matt Oakley, Derby (£500,000)
Jamie Clapham, Wolves (Free)
Ben Alnwick, Tottenham (Loan)
Gabor Bori, MTK Budapest (Loan)
Lee Hendrie, Sheff Utd (Loan)
Kelvin Etuhu, Man City (Loan)
Harry Worley, Chelsea (Loan)
David Bell, Luton (Loan)

TRANSFERSOUT

Stephen Hughes, Motherwell (Signed)
Mark De Vries, Dundee, (Signed)
Darren Kenton, Leeds (Signed)
Alan Maybury, Aberdeen(Signed)
Louis Dodds, Lincoln (Loan)
Conrad Logan, Stockport (Loan)
Eric Odhiambo, Dundee (Loan)
Max Gradel, Bournemouth (Loan)
Jonanthan Hayes, Northampton (Loan)
Carl Pentney, Ilkeston (Loan)
Alan Sheehan, Leeds (Loan)
Rab Douglas, Plymouth (Loan)
Patrick McCarthy, Charlton (Loan)
Andy Johnson, Barnsley (Free)
Danny Cademateri, Huddersfield (Free)

HEAD2HEAD

League - Played 77, Won 27, Drawn 24, Lost 26
FA Cup - Played 9, Won 2, Drawn 4, Lost 3
League Cup - Played 2, Drawn 1, Lost 1
Play-Offs - Played 2, Drawn 1, Lost 1
Total - Played 90, Won 29, Drawn 30, Lost 31

MATCHOFFICIALS