LEICESTER City manager Dean Smith has urged his side, which should include Nigeria international Wilfred Ndidi, to go all out against Liverpool tonight.
The Foxes host Liverpool at the King Power Stadium needing a win to climb out of the English Premier League relegation zone, with games running out.
“I’m expecting fight. But I’m also expecting better quality than we’ve shown in decision-making opportunities,” Smith, who took over from the sacked Brendan Rodgers, told the Leicester City website in his preview.
“It was a crazy game on Monday. It could have been 9-8 with the number of chances there were for both teams.
“We’ve got to be better defensively, but we need to find that balance of making sure we don’t detract from our attacking talent as well. We need to have fewer individual errors because they are costing us too much with goals against.
“We need a collective mindset in terms of concentration and focus on what we’re trying to do and not let goals affect us. We need points, we know that. We’ve needed them (the fans) in every game we had.
“They were rightly disappointed at half-time with the scoreline but their support in the second half was magnificent because they could see the players were trying to get back into the game in certain stages. We will need them like we have in the previous home games.
“They (Liverpool) have just won six games on the spin, so you look at that knowing it’s a really tough time to face them. But they haven’t won as many games on the road as they usually do. In the Premier League they’ve only taken 10 points out of the last 30.
“We’ve got to make sure that we are a Brighton or a Brentford performance against them to get a result. The key is to have as many of your players getting seven or eight out of 10s. You go back to winning duels again.
“You’ve got to run harder, run faster than the opposition and use the ball better. If we do that, we’ve got every chance.”
While Leicester City are second from bottom and two points from safety, Liverpool are fifth and making a late run for a top four finish and a spot in the UEFA Champions League for next season.
Ndidi played the final 30 minutes of Leicester City’s 5-3 defeat at Fulham last Monday, while his fellow Super Eagles star, Kelechi Iheanacho, missed out through injury and is unlikely to feature tonight.
