Plenty Of Options For Pearson

Andy King, Marcin Wasilewski, Wes Morgan, Sean St Ledger and Kasper Schmeichel are all thought to have returned from international action without problem, and will be available for the weekend.

The Foxes have won five straight home matches in all competitions this season and are yet to be beaten in front of the Blue Army.

However the Terriers will be keen to avenge their 6-1 defeat at King Power Stadium in the league on New Year’s Day, and will be hoping that in-form striker James Vaughan can add to his tally of 11 goals for the season.

“We’re in pretty good condition,” Pearson revealed to Foxes Player ahead of the match. “I suppose the positives are that we’ve got Chris Wood and Gary Taylor-Fletcher who are training with the squad, so we’re more or less fully fit.

“You’re always hoping that the players who are away on international duty will get through the games and training programme without any concerns. Of course the travelling can be a problem as well.

“All in all we’ve been pretty fortunate so far in terms of the players returning available to play, then it’s a case of us judging the best route to go for the next game. It’s nice to have players available.”

On the challenge of facing Huddersfield Town, the manager added: “I’m expecting a tough game. They’ve done okay so far in the games that we’ve seen.

“They work very hard and play an interesting shape as well. They’ve got goals in James Vaughan up front so we know it will be a tough game.

“We’ve got to be aware of his strengths and when you look at where his goals have come from they’ve come from crossing situations into the middle of the penalty area.

“He’s very aggressive and good in the air – he’s been here so we know what he’s about. They’ve a well-disciplined team and they’ve got a good work ethic. That’s a common denominator in this league and you’ve really got to try to negotiate these sorts of teams, because they’ll make it difficult and be a threat with the ball.”

City’s home form this campaign has been particularly pleasing for Pearson, and he hopes that will creep into opposition teams’ thinking when they visit King Power Stadium.

He added: “I think that [our home form] is always going to be a benefit for us, but on top of that we’ve got to make sure that our level of performance is such that it remains the case.

“It’s about what we do ourselves. If other sides feel like [it’s a difficult task to come here] then that’s good, but it takes a while to build a reputation up. We’ve done well so far, but Saturday’s game is another tough test.”