Maguire: Concentrate Throughout
- Leicester City will be well prepared to nullify Crystal Palace’s attacking players, says centre back Harry Maguire
- The Foxes have won their last four Premier League games, while Palace are unbeaten in six
- Maguire was pleased with the way City defeated Southampton on Wednesday
Claude Puel’s men welcome Crystal Palace to King Power Stadium for the lunchtime kick-off in the hope of adding another victory to their purple patch.
City have won four Premier League games on the spin and over the past five games are only bettered by runaway leaders Manchester City.
Palace, meanwhile, have not suffered a defeat since the start of November and mounted a late comeback last time out to beat Watford 2-1.
“We’re two teams that have picked up some good results lately,” Maguire told LCFC TV ahead of the game. “They had a really tough start to the season, but we know the qualities of their side.
“They’ve got a lot of good players, especially in the attacking areas. We know that we’re going to have to be fully on it if we’re going to get anything from the game. We’re more than confident at the moment to go and get three points.
“In the Premier League, you come up against a different type of player each week, so it’s something that you’ve got to get used to.
“What you have to realise is that if you’re playing against a Premier League striker, they’ll bring some quality to the game. Each week, you have to make sure you concentrate throughout.
“I’m sure we’ll go out in training to try and work on nullifying Crystal Palace’s attacking players. The main thing is that we’re at King Power Stadium and the momentum is with us. We’ll try and play on the front foot and we’ll take the game to them.”
The Foxes have netted seven times in their previous two games and for Maguire, that is a hugely positive sign ahead of a tough run of fixtures.
He continued: “To go away from home and score four goals is fantastic at any level. It’s very pleasing to see that we’re scoring goals away from home as well at King Power Stadium.
“It’s an important victory for ourselves and it builds a lot of confidence going into the Christmas period.”
For Wednesday’s clash with Southampton, Puel made three changes to his starting XI, with two of those – Andy King and Shinji Okazaki – finding themselves on the scoresheet.
Maguire added: “It’s very pleasing for the gaffer himself to make three changes knowing that he can reply upon the squad and that he can trust the players.
“He can keep tinkering with his team and get good performances out of everyone. I’m sure he’ll be pleased with what happened the other night.”