Leicester City

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Leicester City manager Gary Rowett says he was pleased with how his side played in their 2-2 draw with Preston North End.

The Foxes needed a late Patson Daka equaliser to get a share of the spoils, although they created more than three times as many chances as their opponents.

"You have to look at the performance overall, and I would say for 99% of it the performance was outstanding. I really do think that," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We were excellent, we didn't give too many chances away, we score a very good goal and press nice and early and look really comfortable in the first half.

"But of course I've said it many times before, and it's been a bit of an Achilles heel where we can be playing fantastically well and we just give two goals out of nothing.

"The first one's a throw-in that breaks down and we let them break on us.

"Then the second one's a set-piece where we give the ball away in the run-up to it and then it's a soft goal to concede.

"I know Preston will say they made two mistakes for our goals, but when you've had 28 shots and the keeper's made countless saves, you would always feel as though you should have won the game."

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Championship clubs spent just over £69.5m on agents fees over the past 12 months according to figures released by the Football Association,, external an increase of £6m on the previous year.

The figures cover the period from February 2025 with Ipswich Town the top spenders, paying £11.7m having spent the first three months of the accounting period in the Premier League.

Southampton (£8.3m) and Leicester (£5.8m), who were relegated alongside Ipswich are the second and third-highest payers on the list.

Troubled Sheffield Wednesday were the most frugal when dealing with agents, spending £534,559.

Wrexham come in sixth on the list with an outlay of £3.6m while current Championship leaders Coventry spent just short of £1.5m.

Championship agents' fee spending, external

• Ipswich - £11,738,920

• Southampton - £8,381,358

• Leicester City - £5,866,587

• Sheffield United - £5,005,498

• Norwich - £4,020,206

• Wrexham - £3,660,584

• Swansea - £3,088,645

• Middlesbrough - £2,900,314

• Bristol City - £2,774,990

• Hull City - £2,450,431

• Stoke City - £2,088,886

• Birmingham City - £1,996,502

• Millwall - £1,982,348

• Preston North End - £1,831,233

• QPR - £1,829,036

• Watford - £1,612,833

• Coventry - £1,497,990

• Derby - £1,409,507

• West Brom - £1,346,030

• Oxford - £1,235,536

• Charlton - £904,698

• Portsmouth - £831,818

• Blackburn - £676,980

• Sheffield Wednesday - £534,559

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Leicester City have not definitely ruled out midfielder Jordan James for Friday's Championship match at home to Preston North End (15:00 BST).

The 21-year-old was forced off in the second-half of Wales' World Cup play-off defeat by Bosnia-Herzegovina last Thursday with an Achilles injury and subsequently missed Tuesday's friendly against Northern Ireland.

"He's come back for treatment after landing a bit awkwardly," said Leicester boss Rowett.

"It wasn't anywhere near what one or two people thought at the time in terms of it being a bit more sinister. He's recovering well and getting treatment.

"He hasn't trained today [Wednesday] but some of the international lads either haven't trained or aren't back yet."

Leicester are one point adrift of safety in the Championship relegation zone with seven games remaining and Rowett is keen to have James available for the run-in especially with two matches to come over the Easter period.

"Tomorrow morning [Thursday] we'll have a discussion to see if he's available," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"If you speak to JJ he's adamant he'll be fit, like most players do which is a great sign but we'll try to find the balance between the two games making sure if he's fine for the first one he'll be fine for the second one.

"At least it's a positive conversation and I'm not sitting here saying he's definitely going to be unavailable for the two games."

Fresh from scoring for Ghana during the international break, Leicester will hope Abdul Fatawu and Jordan Ayew can transfer that form into goals for their club as they continue to battle to avoid a second successive relegation.

Four defeats from their past five games means Preston's play-off challenge has dissolved and they start Good Friday's match (15:00 BST) 11 points short of the top six.

• Leicester have won their past two home league games against Preston, having lost four in a row against them beforehand. They last won three consecutively between 1937 and 1950.

• Following their 2-1 win in August, Preston are looking to complete the league double over Leicester for the first time since 1957-58.

• Leicester have won just one of their past 13 league games (D5 L7), beating Bristol City 2-0 at home last month.

• Following a 3-1 win against Stoke last time out, Preston are looking to win consecutive league games for the first time since January (vs Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol City).

• Only Sheffield Wednesday (3) have kept fewer clean sheets than Leicester (5) in the Championship this season. However, two of the Foxes' five have come in their past three games.

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Leicester City forward Abdul Fatawu scored his second senior international goal as Ghana were beaten 2-1 by Germany in their friendly in Stuttgart on Monday night.

The 22-year-old equalised for the Black Stars in the 70th minute only for Germany to win the game with a goal from Deniz Undav two minutes from the end.

The defeat for Ghana follows a 5-1 thrashing in Austria on Friday in which Fatawu's Leicester teammate Jordan Ayew scored their consolation goal.

Both players will expect to be involved when Leicester return to Championship action on Friday at home to Preston (15:00 BST).

Owynn Palmer-Atkin
BBC Radio Leicester reporter

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There is clearly going to be concern, from any business, when it makes a pre-tax operating loss of over £71m.

Leicester City fans are also within their rights to feel concern around a football club that earlier this season received their first ever points deduction.

However, I think it's fair to point in the direction of significant investment from the owners as the main reason behind these losses - in a failed attempt to re-establish themselves in the Premier League.

While the club clearly has some way to go to become more self-sufficient, supporters could take a form of relief from the fact that Leicester believe they have sufficiently fallen in line with the financial rules (PRS) in the Premier League for 2024-25, falling under the £35m allowable loss due to the add-backs.

There are some positive trends in among all the numbers within the murky world of football finance. One of those is the reduction in staff costs. Down from over 100% of total revenue the previous year to around 82% in this year.

The overriding feeling though should be that it's clear the club appear to be moving in the right direction financially, but there is a fair way to go both on and off the pitch to take Leicester City back to where they feel they belong.

The BBC's 72+ EFL podcast team have taken a look at the Championship relegation picture, with some huge games in store at the end of the international break.

Easter Monday (6 April) sees Blackburn and West Brom face-off, level on points just above the drop zone, just hours after second-bottom Oxford United head to Portsmouth.

Third-bottom Leicester will also head to Portsmouth and Blackburn during the run-in.

Former Watford and Reading winger Jobi McAnuff said: "We know Easter weekend is absolutely pivotal and that Portsmouth v Oxford game is looming large, though they both have another game first (on Good Friday).

"It could genuinely could come down to those matches against the teams in and around you. They are absolutely massive.

"Portsmouth are, at the moment, the team I'd be a little bit concerned about in terms of their current form.

"You take it game by game, of course, but that is 100% one everyone in the squad is looking at going 'we need to win that game - if we are going to stay up that is a must win.'

"This two weeks now for Portsmouth is going to be the longest because it's doom and gloom - (losing) 6-1 against a team on their holidays in QPR (in their final game before the break)."

McAnuff also hailed the impact of interim West Brom boss James Morrison, who has taken eight points from his five games at the helm after replacing Eric Ramsey, winning the past two and only being denied three straight wins by a last-gasp leveller against Southampton.

"The big thing about those games - clean sheets," McAnuff said. "When you are in a battle, being hard to beat is the fundamental thing.

"They were really close against Southampton and got pegged back right in the last couple of minutes. It could have been a killer blow.

"To come back from that and now find those couple of wins, they'll have gone into this break absolutely bouncing. The confidence, that feeling back in the dressing room, is absolutely massive at this stage.

"Massive credit to James Morrison because there were a few eyebrows raised. He knows the club inside out and sometimes that's what it takes.

"At the moment he's had a really positive upturn."

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Leicester City attacking midfielder Bilal El Khannouss will make his loan move to Stuttgart permanent in the summer.

The 21-year-old joined the Bundesliga side in September on an initial loan deal with an obligation to buy.

Stuttgart's sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth has confirmed "all the conditions have now been met" to complete the transfer for the Morocco international.

"We are delighted that we have secured Bilal's permanent commitment to VfB Stuttgart," he told German news outlet Bild, external.

El Khannouss signed for the Foxes from Belgian side Genk for £21m in August 2024 and scored three goals in 39 appearances in all competitions last season but was unable to help them avoid relegation from the Premier League.

He has scored eight goals and registered six assists this season for Stuttgart, who are third in the German top flight and reached the Europa League last 16 before going out to Porto.

El Khannouss was also part of the Morocco side retrospectively declared winners of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after their 1-0 loss in the final to Senegal in January was overturned earlier this month.

After 30 matches without a Championship clean sheet, Leicester have now kept two in the past three games, but the Foxes had to settle for a point in a stalemate at Watford on Saturday.

Former Foxes forward and BBC Radio Leicester summariser Matty Fryatt told the When You're Smiling podcast: "I don't quite know how it finished goalless.

"Leicester did everything but get the ball in the back of the net. It was all about if Leicester could go and produce. They couldn't quite in the end, but it was an encouraging display.

"You'd take the point but I think it's two points dropped. You have got to be taking at least one of those chances. Unfortunately Patson Daka will be having nightmares about the missed opportunities."

Fryatt added: "It was encouraging. It was one of the most assured performances we've seen since Gary Rowett arrived - it was just missing that final little bit.

"If they play like that in the Easter weekend fixtures (Preston and Sheffield Wednesday) they'll get positive outcomes."

You can listen to more from Fryatt and boss Gary Rowett in the latest When You're Smiling podcast above or on the club's BBC Sounds page.

Leicester City boss Gary Rowett spoke to BBC Radio Leicester following Saturday's goalless draw with Watford.

"I'm incredibly disappointed. If you see the balance of chances, if you look at the stats, I think we have dominated the big moments in the game," he said.

"We get the penalty, and in my opinion I'm absolutely baffled as to why it is not a yellow card at the very least. Abdul [Fatawu] cuts inside, is in a goalscoring position.

"It was a challenge that warranted a yellow, which would have been a second yellow and red.

"We then miss the penalty and it's a bit of a double whammy; it's a big moment in the game. We obviously have to take care of our own part of it, which is scoring the penalty, but we saw one against Bristol City where Jak [Foxes goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk] saved it, so it happens. It's just unfortunate that it happened when we desperately need goals.

"I don't think it was a 0-0 game, and I thought the performance, to come here and have more possession than Watford and create bigger chances than Watford, a team that is chasing the play-offs, again shows our capability. But we are sat here with one from the game so feels a little disheartening."

Leicester City will seek an escape from the bottom three when they visit promotion-chasing Watford on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

The Foxes took the lead against Queens Park Rangers on the weekend but ultimately suffered a 3-1 defeat to leave them two points adrift of safety.

But the Hornets will be a tough customer, hunting down a place in the play-offs against stiff competition and hot off a big win against fellow promotion-hopefuls Wrexham.

• Watford will be looking to do the league double over Leicester for the first time since 2012-13, after winning 2-1 in this season's reverse fixture on Boxing Day.

• Leicester have won their last two away league games against Watford (5-1 in 2022 and 2-1 in 2024), and have never previously won three in succession away to the Hornets.

• Watford have only won one of their last seven Saturday matches in the Championship (D2 L4), although that was in their most recent one at Vicarage Road (2-0 v Derby last month).

• Leicester are winless in their last nine away league games (D5 L4); they last went 10 in a row without a win in the Championship between December 2004 and October 2005 (18).

• Midfielder Jordan James is now Leicester's top scorer in the Championship this season (10), while only Abdul Fatawu (16) has more goal involvements for the Foxes than the Welshman (14).

Leicester City's difficult season in the Championship continues after a disappointing 3-1 defeat by QPR at home on Saturday.

QPR came from behind to end their run of Championship defeats, with the Foxes falling deeper into the relegation zone, leaving them 23rd in the table.

EFL pundit Jobi McAnuff criticised Leicester's "absolutely shocking" defending and questioned the mentality of the players in the dressing room.

Speaking on the BBC's EFL 72+ podcast, the former Reading and Crystal Palace midfielder said there are "big questions over the players".

"Sometimes it doesn't matter who the manager is on that touchline, the responsibility lies with those players once that whistle starts, to go and do the job," he continued.

"Unfortunately on too many occasions those Leicester City players have let that club down this season.

"I've been in a team that thought they were too good to go down and got relegated. For Leicester City, you can't keep saying they've got good players individually, they're not doing it as a squad. There's no togetherness there."

As it comes up to 10 years since the Foxes won the Premier League in 2016, the side now face the prospect of relegation to League One.

They next face Watford away on Saturday, 21 March.

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There have been plenty of contentious decisions in the 2025-26 Championship season so far.

Offside goals given, perfectly good goals ruled out, red card offences missed, penalties not given, dubious spot-kicks awarded. You name it.

With the video assistant referee (VAR) only used for the play-off final, the outcome of every second-tier game in the regular season can hinge on how on-field officials see incidents in real time.

• Would you want VAR introduced for every league game in the Championship?

• If so, why?

• And if not, let us know your reasons.

You can share your thoughts on VAR here or comment below, and we will publish a follow-up article soon with a selection of your responses.

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Leicester City boss Gary Rowett said he was looking for players he can trust after their dismal loss to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday - but who fits the bill?

The When You're Smiling team have been weighing up what players should make the cut for the starting XI and one of the biggest topics has been who to play up front in a team lacking a stand-out striker.

Ghana striker Jordan Ayew has more goals [5] to his name than his counterpart Patson Daka [4] this season, but the team think the Zambian would be the better choice to help in the relegation scrap.

"I just can't understand at all why he [Ayew] is getting picked," Lox from the Blue Tinted Glasses fan channel told BBC Radio Leicester.

"I would play Daka over him every day of the week. We've got two strikers, neither of them have scored too many goals but one of them runs, he puts pressure on the defenders, on the goalkeeper.

"I would start him [Daka] in every game until the end of the season. I don't want to see [Ayew] in a Leicester shirt ever again, personally."

Another player the team think would be a must on the team sheet is midfielder Jordan James, who scored the opening goal in the 3-1 defeat by Rangers.

"He's one of the only players that cares - and he's on loan [from French side Stade Rennais]," Lox said.

"That passion and commitment that he has for a team that only have him on loan is incredible and you just wish his team-mates shared that."

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