Leicester City manager Dean Smith believes his side can take encouragement from Liverpool’s patchy away form when the sides meet on Monday evening.
The Foxes, fighting remain in the Premier League, find themselves two points adrift of 17th-placed Everton and have only three matches remaining to save their season.
Gripped in a battle of their own, Jurgen Klopp’s side also have little margin for error as they attempt to keep pace with Newcastle and Manchester United in the race for Champions League football. Liverpool’s hopes of a top-four finish looked to have faded weeks ago, though six successive victories have propelled them back into contention.
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The Reds’ inability to remain consistent away from Anfield this term is the reason they currently find themselves fifth in the division, highlighted by Bournemouth boasting a stronger record on their travels, and Smith is keen for his players to attempt a repeat of Leicester’s home win versus Liverpool witnessed last campaign.
“I think it is six games on the spin,” said the ex-Aston Villa manager of the upturn in results produced by Klopp’s men. “You look at that and you go ‘It is a tough time to face them,’ but they haven’t won as many games on the road as they normally do. In the Premier League, if I’m right, they’ve only taken ten points out of their last 30. We’ve got to make sure we have a Brighton or a Brentford performance against them, who got a result against them.
“The key is to have as many of your players getting seven and eights out of ten," he continued when asked what is essential to beating Liverpool. "I go back to winning your duels, you’ve got to still run faster and smarter than the opposition and use the ball better. If we do that, then we’ve got a good chance.”
Leicester will be without striker Kelechi Iheanacho, who has missed his team’s previous two games due to injury and will not be fit to face Liverpool. Portuguese full-back Ricardo Pereira could return, however, after his short-term absence.
Providing a squad update on Friday afternoon, Smith told reporters: “Nobody has come out from the squad. Rici [Ricardo Pereira] is back in full training now so we are as we were. He [Iheanacho] is due to train earlier next week as well rather than later. We thought he would only have a build-up of two days before the Newcastle game, but he is ahead of schedule.”
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