'Bit of a struggle' - Dean Smith applauds Leeds United fans and outlines Leicester City musts

New Leicester boss Smith’s second game in charge of the Foxes and first at the King Power on Saturday produced Leicester’s first win in ten league games as a Kelechi Iheanacho penalty and Timothy Castagne strike sealed a 2-1 win against Wolves.

The triumph took Leicester out of the drop zone and to within a point and a place of fifth-bottom Leeds who the Foxes now face in a gigantic scrap at the foot of the division under the Elland Road lights. Leeds fell to a third-straight defeat at the weekend as Saturday’s clash at Fulham ended in a 2-1 reverse and Javi Gracia’s Whites have now conceded 13 goals in their last three games. Smith, though, would not buy into the theory that now was a good time to face Leeds – answering only “I’ll tell you at 9.45pm on Tuesday night” – and the Foxes boss instead praised United’s fans for the footballing atmosphere they create at Elland Road. That, said Smith, must be combated by his Foxes side via particular musts as the Foxes face the Whites.

Asked at his pre-match press conference what he had made to Leeds under Gracia so far, Smith mused: “They’ve had a bit of a struggle so far, a bit like us. They’ve been on the back of a couple of heavy defeats at home but I am sure they will see this game as a big one to try to pull away from the position they are in, like ourselves."

Pressed on whether Tuesday’s clash at Elland Road was one of the main ones he looked at upon taking charge of Leicester, Smith reasoned: "I just looked at the fixtures in general. Excluding Man City, there were games where you can go and compete in and get results and get points.

"There's a couple of tough ones in there, Newcastle away we saw them yesterday, Liverpool. But there's games we feel we can go and compete in so we are not looking at this week in general.

"We are just looking at Tuesday and Leeds United at Elland Road which is a great place to go and play football with the atmosphere that their fans produce and our job is to try and keep them quiet.

Smith added: “Certainly you don't give them any reason to get lifted. We can’t give cheap free-kicks away around the box, cheap set pieces, cheap goals because that will just lift the atmosphere within the stadium. We have to keep them quiet for as long as we can and I think if we do that it makes it a better place for us to go."