CRAIG SHAKESPEARE has called on Leicester to reproduce their performance against Huddersfield Town back in October rather than their “below-par” show at Burnley on Saturday.
But he has also warned his players to be wary of a Town backlash from their loss three months ago when Simon Grayson, a former Leicester favourite as a player between 1992-97, takes his team to the King Power Stadium today.
With manager Nigel Pearson off colour, Foxes coach Shakespeare was in charge of yesterday’s fine-turning session for the East Midlands side, who are fifth in the Championship and desperate to regain the Premier League status lost in 2004.
While the 1-0 success at Burnley was the club’s first win in five games, Shakespeare said: “The ambition is promotion.
“We have never been frightened to use the word. It is what we are after and what we are striving for. All the staff and players feel we have enough ability to make an impact in this league in the second half of the campaign.”
Looking back to the 2-0 win at the John Smith’s Stadium, when French midfielder Anthony Knockaert scored both goals, Shakespeare added: “I would put that win as one of our best team performances of the season.
“The players can take a lot of heart out of that but they have to make sure they replicate it. We know teams can make it difficult when they come to our ground.
“We have said before there are no easy games. If you take your foot off the pedal you can pay the price. We have to maintain the energy levels and hopefully with the crowd behind us we can get the three points.”
Knockaert, 21, was a £1m-plus close-season recruit from Guingamp who has scored five goals so far and Shakespeare explained: “Both his efforts against Huddersfield were tremendous, but of different types.
“I also remember it as a great team performance. From one to 11 that day we were good. You wouldn’t have thought we were the away team.
“Huddersfield were very complimentary about us but we know they are coming to try to steal the points.”
While Leicester’s line-up is set to include former Town loan midfielder Danny Drinkwater, Town are set to field ex-Leicester loan striker James Vaughan.
He scored once in eight games during the 2009-10 Championship campaign.
