January: Kickstarting The New Year In Style
A new month and a new year approached for Leicester, who continued their drive to the Premier League while their run in the Emirates FA Cup began with a win over Millwall...
Monthly Recap - January
Championship position: 1st
Championship points: 69
EFL Cup progress: Eliminated in Third Round
FA Cup progress: Through to the Fourth Round
Form: WWLDWW
Twenty-five games into the Championship season and Leicester were at the summit, currently ahead of the season's surprise package, Ipswich Town. A lot of football was still to be played but 2024 started in similar fashion to how they previous year ended; with City taking the win.
Meeting Huddersfield Town at King Power Stadium, the home side ran out 4-1 victors on a day which would go down in memory as the moment Tom Cannon arrived. Named in the starting line-up, the striker netted twice, along with Ricardo Pereira and Stephy Mavididi to ensure three points.
Five days later, Leicester's run in the FA Cup commenced with a third round win over Millwall at the Den. Cesare Casadei and Ricardo put the Foxes two goals up before Duncan Watmore halved the deficit. Cannon restored the cushion and a late surge from Zian Flemming could not prevent City from going through.
A week later, Championship action resumed with the short trip down the M69 to face Coventry City, but this time it was the Sky Blues who came out on top, winning the derby 3-1 as Callum O'Hare scored a brace at The Coventry Building Society Arena.
Following on from this loss in the Midlands derby, City had to regroup to face Ipswich for the second time in quick succession. Leicester once again took the lead through a Leif Davis own goal, but a late Ipswich strike, this time from Jeremy Sarmiento, split the scores.
Picking up just one point from six, City needed a distraction to get back to winning ways, which they earned when they met Birmingham City in the FA Cup Fourth Round. A trio of strikes from Jamie Vardy, Yunus Akgün and Dennis Praet ensured safe passage and a much needed confidence boost, evident in the next display against Swansea City.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall got the action started in the third minute before a Mavididi penalty doubled the hosts' advantage on Filbert Way. Akgün then scored his second goal in as many games, resulting in Joe Allen's late strike being nothing more than a consolation goal. First place still belonged to Leicester, who were also on a brink of an impressive FA Cup run.