Leicestershire

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Middlesbrough will seek to get back to winning ways as they welcome beleaguered Leicester to the Riverside on Tuesday (19:45 GMT).

Boro followed-up their defeat at Championship leaders Coventry with a goalless draw at home to second-bottom Oxford United on Saturday to lie three points behind the Sky Blues at the summit, though with a six-point advantage over third-placed Millwall.

The Foxes remain in the bottom-three, a point adrift of West Brom, after being pegged back to draw 2-2 at Stoke on Saturday, though it ended a run of four straight league defeats.

City remain winless in seven Championship games on the road since early December, however.

• Having been winless in 14 league games against Leicester between 2003 and 2017 (D8 L6), Middlesbrough have now won two of their past three against the Foxes (D1).

• Leicester have only lost two of their 13 league games against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium (W6 D5), though one of these was their most recent visit in November 2023.

• Middlesbrough are unbeaten in their past five league games against Leicester (W2 D3), last having a longer run between 1930 and 1934 (9 games).

• Middlesbrough have alternated between defeat (2) and victory (2) in their past four midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) league games, beating Stoke City 2-1 last time out.

• Leicester are winless in their past 12 midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) league games (D4 L8), alternating between a draw and a defeat in their eight in the Championship this season.

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Boss Gary Rowett said improving defensively will be key to steering Leicester City away from the Championship relegation zone.

The Foxes came from behind to lead Stoke City with two minutes left, but conceded to draw 2-2.

"The players are devastated because they want to win games of football," Rowett told BBC Radio Leicester.

"It's very easy to judge and label players, but sometimes you have to just see what they're about.

"At the moment, they've been really receptive to the ideas. They want to get out of the position they are in. They all recognise that it's not acceptable to be in a position we're in with the quality that we've got.

"But it's about doing it on the pitch. We can talk about it till we're blue in the face, but it's about showing it. And, in the second half, they did.

"We've got some really, really good players. But we need to do is find a really nice defensive base so that those players in the forward areas haven't got to score two, three, four goals every game to go and win it. We certainly have to be a little bit more solid."

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Two sides struggling for form in the Championship will meet when Stoke City welcome Leicester City on Saturday (kick-off 12:30 GMT).

The Potters have seen their promotion hopes fade with just four wins in 18 games since the start of November (D4 L10) to slide from second to 14th - and are without a victory in their past six matches (D3 L3), in which they have scored just two goals.

The Foxes have lost four on the bounce, are without a win in six (D1) and have just two victories from their past 11 games (D1 L8).

Their six-point deduction for breaching PSR rules - which they are appealing against - has only compounded their woes with Leicester facing back-to-back relegations as they start the weekend in 22nd, two points from safety.

• Stoke have lost their past three league meetings with Leicester, conceding nine goals in the process and only scoring once themselves. They have never lost four in a row against the Foxes in their league history.

• Leicester are unbeaten in their previous six league away games against Stoke (W2 D4), with their last defeat there coming in March 2007 (2-4) under Rob Kelly.

• Stoke City are winless across their past five home league games (D2 L3), losing each of the past two – they last lost three home league games in a row in October 2023.

• Leicester have lost four successive Championship games and will be looking to avoid losing more in a row outside the Premier League for the first time since January 2006 (6 defeats).

• Stoke City have failed to score in each of their past three games in the Championship, last going on a longer league run without scoring in March 2019 (4 games).