Zak: Festive Fixtures In Perspective

Four points off the automatic promotion places following Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Barnsley, the Foxes now face four big games before the turn of the year – away trips to Millwall, Hull and Burnley along with a home game against leaders Cardiff.

It is a time of year viewed by many to be crucial to a team’s chances of a successful finish to the campaign, as squads are stretched and games begin to mount up.

But ahead of Saturday’s trip to former club Millwall, Whitbread is relaxed about the significance of the coming weeks, although he admits a maximum haul of points will be Leicester’s Christmas target.

“There’s a long way to go,” Zak said.

“The league won’t be won after the next four games, but you can pick up points in a short space of time, which is great for your confidence going into the second half of the season.

“They’re all big games and we want to win them all, but it won’t decide our season. We just want to stay in there and look to kick on in the second half of it.”

City appeared to be on-course for a ninth home victory of the season against the Tykes when Anthony Knockaert slid them into a ninth-minute lead.

But Nigel Pearson’s men failed to build on their fast start and ultimately needed a Jamie Vardy goal in stoppage time to salvage a point.

“In games like that at home when we go 1-0 up, we’ve got to keep our foot on the pedal, dictate the game, keep the tempo and maintain the standards we set at the start,” Whitbread admitted.

“We want to win every game. At home we’ve set high standards for ourselves and we want to maintain them.

“I think it’s a sign of a good team when you get last minute equalisers and winners. It could be a big point for us at the end of the season, but we need to maintain those standards.”