Ex-Owl Pearson Ready For Hillsborough

So when the Foxes boss spoke this week of an away trip that must be approached with the same professionalism and ruthlessness his side have shown of late, he did so with some degree of authority.

Pearson spent seven successful years at Hillsborough as a player between 1987 and 1994, captaining the Owls to their 1991 League Cup triumph – their last major trophy success – and becoming a hugely popular figure among Wednesdayites.

So he is fully aware of the hostile surroundings his players will be walking into at one of English football’s most atmospheric old stadiums, and is no mood to underestimate their admittedly struggling hosts.

“As always in the Championship, it’s foolhardy to just predict based on positions, because we know it can be unpredictable,” he said.

“We need to go into the game with the same drive and commitment we have had in the majority of our games this season.

“Hillsborough is a place I know well, they’ll want a positive home result and we have to go there and make it difficult for them. We’ll go there aiming to win as we always are, but we know we’ll have to work very hard to do that.

“They’ve had some unfortunate results, last weekend at Forest it was an own goal that decided the points and they’ve been involved in a few tight games that haven’t gone their way.

“But I’m looking at our own performance to make sure we give ourselves the best chance of winning.”

Pearson’s side were in sparkling form in last Saturday’s 6-0 win over Ipswich Town – City’s biggest league win in 30 years.

And with confidence high on the back of such an authoritative display, the Foxes boss says his players will continue to be positive in their approach.

“Last weekend saw our hard work bear quite a bit of fruit. It was a good result,” he said.

“We’ve produced some good performances this season and not always got our rewards. Last week we were extremely professional and ruthless with it too.

“It’s not about not getting beat, we want to try to win games.

“All in all, we’ve continued to produce good performances and, as with every fixture in this league, we’ll be aiming to try to win on Saturday.”