Championship: Two Former England Managers Meet as Leicester Take on Nottingham
Despite spending vast sums of money, Leicester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson has guided the team to just one victory in their three league fixtures so far in the campaign.
Prior to the start of the season, promotion was the main aim for Leicester City. But they would have to rethink about their priorities if the poor form continues against Nottingham Forest as well.
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Leicester City, though, will be confident, as only three games have been played in the league so far. Sven Goran Eriksson will be targeting a win from this match especially considering that they will be facing both Southampton and Brighton and Hove – teams that are on a good run of form – in the next few matches.
Nottingham Forest started the season poorly with a draw and defeat, but a 1-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers ensured that they got their first win of the season prior to facing Leicester City – one of the favourites for promotion this season.
Considering their problems pre-season, the win over Doncaster Rovers could not have come in the much better time for Steve McClaren and Nottingham Forest. Ishmael Miller is likely to start for Nottingham Forest, while Darius Vassell will be back from suspension for Leicester City.
It has been a very poor start to the season for Paul Jewell and Ipswich Town. The away match against Ipswich Town could be just the sort of fixture that the former Wigan boss would not have been hoping for at this stage.
Ipswich started the season with a win, but they have since suffered three defeats on the bounce, with two of them coming in the league. Their most recent defeat - a 2-5 loss to Southampton – had Paul Jewell extremely furious with his team.
He is likely to make significant changes to the starting XI in order to arrest the slide. They will be facing a Peterborough United side, which has started off the season relatively well. However, they have not won their last two matches.
The biggest concern for Darren Ferguson will be the amount of goals conceded by his team. They are yet to keep a clean sheet in the season so far. Ferguson, though, has strengthened his side by signing Chelsea left back Ben Gordon on a loan deal, while Ivar Ingimarsson continues to remain on the sidelines.
With the exception of the opening day defeat at the hands of Cardiff city, West Ham United have begun the season in true Sam Allardyce fashion. They have followed up the Cardiff defeat with two consecutive wins, in which they have kept two clean sheets.
They are undoubtedly one of the favourites alongside Leeds United, who got their first league win of the season against Hull City last weekend. The 4-1 victory brought an end to the two consecutive defeats they have suffered previously, while also reigniting the hopes of promotion.
Even after just three games, Leeds United are six points behind leaders Southampton, although six points is not a lot in the Championship. Still, they will be looking to getting back to the top of the table, but the away match against West Ham poses one of the toughest fixtures to do so.
Sam Allardyce will check on the fitness of James Tomkins, although he does have Abdoulaye Faye deputising for the youngster. Allardyce is likely to hand in signing John Carew with a debut, although a lot rests on his fitness. Luciano Becchio and Billy Paynter still continue to be on the sidelines for Leeds United.
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