Leicester v Ipswich: Mick McCarthy says attack will be the best form of defence at runaway league-leaders Leicester today.

The Blues boss has often selected his formation and personnel to nullify opponents this season, with an emphasis on organisation and hard-work providing foundations to be consistently competitive but leading to more draws than defeats.

With 16-goal topscorer David McGoldrick having been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury, many will have been expecting McCarthy to pack the midfield against a Foxes side who are eight points clear at the top having dropped just four points in their last 11 matches.

However, admitting that this may be a ‘watershed moment’ for his team’s top six ambitions, the Blues boss says he has no choice but to go on the front foot. Lose this afternoon and the Suffolk side could quickly find themselves being sucked towards mid-table.

“They played on Wednesday night (2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest) and I think we’ve got to make the most of that,” said McCarthy. “We’ve got to be an attacking force, go and press them and try to get something out of it.

“If you just sit back and let them have it then they have the opportunity to recover from midweek. And they’re not an easy team to stop. They’re the best team in the league by a good margin.”

It looks like Frank Nouble will be the striker to replace McGoldrick in the side after McCarthy confirmed that Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is not ready to start following his latest return from injury while other strikers have ‘been better’ than out-of-favour Paul Taylor.

The other option would have been to play wide men such as Stephen Hunt and Paul Anderson either side of lone striker Daryl Murphy, but the Blues boss has intimated that will not be the case.

“There’s always a consideration to do that because they’re a very good side,” he said. “But I went and watched their game on Wednesday and Nottingham Forest played one up front and were getting mullered for the first 20 minutes.

“I don’t mind these sort of games at all. I guess we’ve got everything to gain and little to lose. We’ve got something to lose, of course, but I don’t think anyone’s thinking we are going to go up there and win. It would be nice to put on a bit more of a show than we did there last year (6-0 defeat) because we got absolutely slapped. That was embarrassing.”

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