Appleton: Start On The Front Foot

- Leicester City must strive to score the opening goal at Swansea City, says Michael Appleton
- The Foxes need three points to climb out of the Premier League's bottom three
- Appleton hopes his side can be more expressive in the final third in Wales on Saturday
- Swansea will also be keen to get more points on the board after an indifferent start

The Foxes travel to Wales needing a victory to climb away from the Premier League’s bottom three, but Appleton wants his side to play without pressure against Paul Clement’s side.

“Sometimes you just need a bounce of a ball to get that first goal, that’s probably one of the things that we would like to improve if possible,” he told the media this week.

“This year, we’ve only scored the first goal on one occasion and that was against Brighton. Incidentally, it was probably our best start of the season as well.

“That’s something that we’ll try and address on Saturday and going forward.

“Getting that first goal, it doesn’t matter what level of football you’re at, it gives you an incredible opportunity to win the game.”

Appleton hopes that City will enjoy a greater share of possession against the Swans after a difficult opening run of fixtures, often pitting them against the division’s top sides.  

He added: “What we have found in the early part of the season, because we played some of the stronger sides in the first eight games, you tend to do a lot more defending than you would do if you came up against the majority of sides outside that top six.  

“The approach will be slightly different. We’re playing against a different style. Whether they go with a diamond or whether it’s 4-3-3, they’re very flexible.

“Paul has changed and chopped this season. We’ll go there with an approach where we think that we can beat their style of play.

“In terms of doing thing differently from our point view, there’s a fine line. If Riyad [Mahrez] scores from six yards out on Monday night, maybe it would have been a different story.”  

On his personal preparation, Appleton concluded: “All I can do is make sure the lads are in a really positive frame of mind, make sure that they’re fully focused and make sure that in terms of preparation, they know what Swansea’s strengths and weaknesses are.”