Leicester v Wolves preview: Julen Lopetegui warns Wolves are not safe yet
Julen Lopetegui has urged Wolves not to rest on their laurels as they look to secure their Premier League safety at Leicester tomorrow.
Back-to-back wins against Chelsea and Brentford have pushed Wolves seven points clear of the bottom three, as they prepare to face the struggling East Midlands side.
Wolves are not yet mathematically safe, but have taken great strides to making that a reality with recent performances and results.
However, Lopetegui is calling for his team to remain focused heading into their trip to the King Power Stadium.
He said: “We are not safe yet and we have to work very hard to achieve a lot of points.
“We have to put the focus on the work we will have to do, and not the work we have done.
“This is elite football and it demands a lot of focus. We have seven finals in front of us and the first one is against Leicester.
“We know the kind of match we will find there and we have to be ready. We are in the middle of the battle and we have to continue.
“There’s no space to relax, we are fighting.
“You only achieve your aims when you achieve, not before. It’s very clear for me.
“We are fighting very hard and we have to go to Leicester with all our strength and spirit, and know what to expect from Leicester.
“They have plenty of top, fantastic players, and we have to be ready.”
Tomorrow’s game will be Leicester’s first at home since appointing Dean Smith as manager.
The former Villa boss lost 3-1 to Manchester City on his first outing, but Lopetegui is expecting a reaction from the side sitting 19th in the Premier League.
He added: “The situation is for both teams, it’s a final for both.
“They have very good players – top players in a lot of positions, in my opinion.
“I like these players and this team a lot.
“It will be a very hard test for us, with a big demand, and we have to be ready.
“I expect that it will be a very hard match.
“They are fighting with us for the same aim, and of course they have a new coach. They will bring a new reaction, for sure, with their fans.
“We have to be ready to go there and show our strengths, to be able to compete with them from the start until the end.”
Despite Leicester’s struggles, they are still the top goalscorers among every team in the bottom half of the Premier League with 41 strikes – almost double many teams around them.
For Lopetegui, that emphasises the danger they pose.
“If you start talking about the star names at Leicester, you don’t stop, they have a very good squad and good players,” Lopetegui said.
“They are fighting with us in the same aim, so we have to believe in us, but know in the same way the demand we will have on us in the stadium.”
Opposition view
Boss Dean Smith has urged Leicester to forget their fears against Wolves as they battle to save their Premier League skins.
The Foxes host Wolves tomorrow sitting second bottom and two points from safety.
Leicester also go to fellow strugglers Leeds on Tuesday before hosting Everton in a crucial spell and Smith believes his new side need to be brave.
“We can’t play with any fear,” he said, having lost his opening game 3-1 at Manchester City after replacing Brendan Rodgers until the end of the season.
“We’ve looked at the quality we have on the training ground, we haven’t brought that on to the pitch over the last eight or nine games.
“What I saw against Bournemouth (a 1-0 defeat) was a lethargy. We need to be free and play with confidence.
“We’re taking it one game at a time, we knew the Man City game was going to be a unique one, given the level they are at compared to pretty much everyone else.
“Everyone knows how important this fixture is, hopefully we get to see a lift from the players and we can start how we finished at Manchester City.
“You’re not going to be defined on that (game). The games which are coming up – we can only look at Wolves to start with. Our results at home haven’t been where they should be.”
Ricardo Pereira remains out with a hamstring issue, with Jannik Vestergaard also sidelined. Harvey Barnes is close to a return following a hamstring injury but Smith will not risk the winger.
“I’ve got to balance that risk, I know he is going to start training on Sunday and be ready for Tuesday,” he said.
“It’s not an easy decision. He’s our top scorer but I’ve got to balance the risk and I feel the risk would be too much. He may have got minutes off the bench but the risk to re-injure is just too much.”
