Leicester City are heading into a crunch clash with promotion rivals Leeds United, but manager Enzo Maresca has played down the significance of the fixture.
City head to Elland Road on Friday (8pm kick-off) for what appears to be their toughest game of the campaign. Leeds are unbeaten at home this season, have won eight on the bounce in the Championship, and got the better of City in their previous head-to-head in November.
But for Maresca, there is too much football left to play to apply added importance to the match. Even in defeat, City will still, at the very least, have a six-point cushion inside the division’s top two, and with 12 games left to secure their place in the Premier League.
Asked about the significance of Friday’s match, Maresca said: “I said before Middlesbrough, and it’s exactly the same for the next game, if we are going to win, lose or draw, it doesn’t mean it is finished. We have still games to play. It’s an important game for sure. But from now on, all of the games are important.”
As things stand, the highest tally the third-placed club can finish with is a whopping 108 points. So to get to 109 and be absolutely certain of promotion, City still require 31 points, which would be 10 wins and a draw from 13 games.
If they manage to beat Leeds, the maximum potential points tally for third comes down to 106. In that scenario, City would then need 26 points from 12 games to guarantee a spot in the top two, so either nine victories, or eight and two draws.
