Pearson Expecting Midfield Battle

Both sides have had unbeaten starts to the season so will be eager to continue that in what is sure to be a keenly contested East Midlands derby game that will see a healthy contingent of Foxes fans supporting their side on the road.

And with only Wales’ Andy King seeing any international action in midweek, Pearson is delighted to have a relatively fit squad to choose from going into the match.

“Everybody is training apart from Sean St. Ledger,” revealed the manager in his pre-match press conference. “It depends how he responds to the treatment he has, but hopefully it won’t be too long that he’s out for.

“He had a similar injury last pre-season and he recovered relatively quickly from that one. It’ll be anywhere between three and six weeks, hopefully closer to six.

“Ignasi Miquel is in the squad and in contention, so we’ll see how we go.

“They’ve got some good players but what we do ourselves is key and we’re trying to get the preparation right.”

The manager will be hoping for a better display from his side than on their last visit to Pride Park – a 2-1 defeat in March. There has been plenty of matches since then though and Pearson knows what to expect from Nigel Clough’s men.

He said: “Clearly the last time we went there wasn’t one of our better performances and we’ve got to do better than that because local derbies are about making sure you give a good account of yourselves and that’s what we intend to do.

“I’ve been pretty impressed with how Derby have gone about their games. They’ve played with good intensity and they’ve got some decent players. What we’ve got to do is make sure that we get our performance right against them.

“It could be a midfield battle on Saturday. They’ve tried one or two different formations and have used the ball well so far. They play with a high intensity, they’re a pressing side and we’re expecting a tough game.

“It’s an important game for us so we’ll go there and try to get things right on the day. We’re looking to pick three points up. It will be a difficult game because it’s a local derby and they have started the season pretty well.

“It’s great for the fans that they can get to an away game like this in large numbers the local derbies are ones that the fans look forward to and it will be a competitive game.”