Leicester v Ipswich: His side may be eight points clear at the top and unbeaten in 11 matches, but Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson isn’t taking anything for granted ahead of this afternoon’s visit of Ipswich Town.

The Blues have lost just six games this season, four of those defeats coming by a single-goal margin. Indeed, Mick McCarthy’s men have lost just one of their last 11 away games (1-0 at Millwall).

“It will be a tough game,” said Pearson. “Mick is a really good footballing man. I like his approach and his honesty. I like the way he manages.

“It will be an interesting game. I think if people expect it to be similar to the game here last year (6-0 win for Leicester) it won’t be. Mick has put his own identity on his side now. They are a tough team to beat. We have to expect another difficult game.”

On McCarthy, Pearson said: “Sometimes managers get these labels. Mick will get the best out of the players he has got. He has worked with some very successful sides and if you say he is just about organisation then fine. What he does do is get the best out of the players he has. That is what it is all about.

“It is a very dangerous to go into any place and start with a sweeping statement that you are going to play attacking entertaining football if the players you have got are not capable of that.

“What you have to do as a manager is work out very quickly what you do have and get the best out of what you have until you can change what you have got.

“Mick is a very experienced manager who has done that and some of the success he has had has been in some tough circumstances. He has experience of being successful. People are very quick to forget he has managed some very entertaining sides as well.”

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