Nigel Pearson will be hoping that his Leicester City can record their first victory in 13 matches when they host Tottenham Hotspur at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day.

Since they pulled off a historic 5-3 victory over Manchester United on September 21st, they have gone on abysmal run - including nine defeats in 10 games which sees the Foxes five points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League. This poor run has seen Pearson’s position at the helm come under scrutiny and the pressure seems to be getting to him, with the manager recently being handed a one-match ban for his comments at a fan.

Their opponents, however, are on a good run of form of late, winning three matches in the space of seven days. Spurs' run of form saw them qualify for the Capital One Cup semi-final with a 4-0 win over Newcastle in mid-week, before beating Burnley 2-1 on Saturday. Regardless, they have two tough fixtures ahead in facing both Manchester United and Chelsea at White Hart Lane over the festive period, so Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping to gather an important three points away at Leicester.

Chris Wood is expected to be missing for the home side, after leaving training early on Tuesday due to infection. The striker will be assessed ahead of the clash but he hasn’t started a match for the Foxes since the Capital One Cup defeat to Shrewsbury in August. Meanwhile Matt Upson is expected to return in the New Year from a foot injury, but keeper Kasper Schmeichel remains out with a broken metatarsal.

Tottenham’s only real injury concern is Ryan Mason but Pochettino is optimistic he will be fit after being forced off with a twisted ankle in the win against Burnley. Despite that, Spurs have a clean bill in health with striker Emmanuel Adebayor in contention to feature for the first time since November. 

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Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.