Pearson's Faith In Players

The 2013/14 season has got off to an excellent start for Pearson’s men, but after their unbeaten run came to an end in frustrating fashion at Charlton before the international break, everyone will be eager to return to winning ways quickly.

Wes Morgan, Chris Wood, Andy King and Kasper Schmeichel all travelled with their respective nations over the past two weeks, and will now link up with their team-mates for a tough test at home to the current FA Cup holders.

Pearson revealed: “We’re still waiting for Wes to return but he’s due back in the country this (Thursday) evening and hopefully he’ll be okay.

“He’s been a very important player for the Club and his level of performance has been excellent, so it’s no surprise to me that he’s been called up [for Jamaica].

“But with every international break that we have the most important thing is getting our players back fit. It does interfere slightly but it’s the same for everybody. The majority of sides will have players missing but the players have coped with it very well.

“Injury-wise, Sean St Ledger won’t be available for this week or next, but we’ll see how he progresses and hopefully he will be back with us before too long.”

Despite losing a number of key players during the summer following their relegation from the Premier League, Saturday’s opponents boast one of the strongest squads in the Championship.

The likes of Grant Holt, James McClean and Scott Carson have been added under new boss Owen Coyle, earning them the tag as one of the promotion favourites and Pearson knows that taking three points from the game will be no mean feat.

He added: “It’s never easy with the expectation levels on them as a club because of the strength that they’ve got. I think they will be pretty much there or there abouts [at the end of the season].

“They’ve got off to a reasonable start and we can’t read too much into it at this stage. It remains a very tough league and it’s a big game for us at the weekend.

“I trust the players once they’re out on the pitch and I know that they’ll go about the game in the right way.

“The players have been excellent again in terms of how they’ve gone about training and are in a good place themselves.

“They don’t like losing games, and this will be another tough match against a very good side that will be among the favourites to get promotion. They’ve got huge options in terms of personnel so we know we’ve got to be at our best in terms of preparation, but it’s one the players are looking forward to.”