Pearson Prepared For Millwall

A string of frustrating results have seen The Foxes struggle to reach the sort of form that saw them reach the heights of second in January, and the manager is targeting three points and a performance against Kenny Jackett’s Lions.

With Sean St. Ledger, Chris Wood, Kasper Schmeichel and Andy King all returning from international duty with their respective nations, City are in good shape going into the fixture, and were further boosted by the return to fitness of Ritche De Laet and Matty James.

Pearson revealed: “They will be available for Friday’s game, and that’s important to us. I think we’ve got more or less a fully fit squad and we hope that all the internationals come back in good spirits. I think they’ll be important for us as well.

“It’s effectively an eight-game season now. We’ve had spells that we’ve been in a strong position, but we’ve unfortunately now got ourselves into a position where we’ve got to make some serious inroads.

“And first thing is first, Friday’s game is pivotal. We want to make sure that we can finish the season strongly. What that means in terms of where we can finish, the minimum has to be the play-offs, of course.

“We’ve got an awful long way to go yet, but first and foremost we want to get back to winning ways and that means putting in a good performance on Friday.”

Those that weren’t away on international duty travelled with the squad to Portugal for a well-timed warm weather training camp for four days, and it’s something that the manager feels was particularly beneficial after the defeat to Derby last time out.

He added: “I think we’ve got to be able to play our football in a pressure situation, and I think that was the most disappointing thing when we played against Derby – we ended up playing a style of football that doesn’t really suit us.

“We had a few days to recharge, got some decent sessions in as well so all in all it was an important exercise. I think I said after Derby it was important to recharge and it was an opportunity for us all to have a bit of a chat and get some decent training in, as the weather certainly hasn’t been conducive to that over here. I think it worked well.

“It’s a chance for us now to get back to playing football with a bit more clarity of mind. The players have worked very hard this season so far. We’ve had a difficult spell and it’s important that we go into the last run of games fit in body and in mind.”