City news: Pearson wary of Hartlepool tactics

Nigel Pearson sends out his Leicester City troops today, unsure what tricks his opposite number, Danny Wilson, will have up his sleeve when Hartlepool United make their first-ever visit to the Walkers Stadium (3.0).

The two bosses were team-mates at Sheffield Wednesday and Pearson leads 1-0 in their head-to-head battle following a Johnstone's Paints Trophy success at Victoria Park on September 2.

Pearson has downplayed the relevance of that result in what was an open game with both sides committed to attacking play.

City's frustrations this season have come against teams with packed defences such as Millwall, who won at the Walkers, and Lincoln City, who took the Foxes to a penalty shoot-out in the Johnstone's on Tuesday night.

The City boss admits he does not know how Hartlepool will set out their stall.

"I don't have any hold over what the opposition do," said Pearson. "They will come and set up how they want to set up and we have to do what we can to win the game.

"Hartlepool do like to get the ball down, but they play direct as well and mix it up.

"How they will play, I don't know yet. Ultimately, though, it's about what we do ourselves and, if we play close to our maximum, we will be okay."

Pearson will await fitness checks on Steve Howard, DJ Campbell and Max Gradel before naming his starting line-up. Howard and Campbell have been suffering with a sickness bug while Gradel collected an ankle injury in the game against Lincoln.

However, the City boss has a lot of confidence in the effectiveness of his squad with the likes of Jack Hobbs, Nicky Adams and James Wesolowski chomping at the bit for League action.

He said: "We've got a decent balance but, if one or two players are missing, it will mean more younger players getting a starting berth, which is not a problem."

Pearson also said it was the job of the team to get the Blue Army going after the "frustrations" of the Lincoln game and the home defeat to Millwall.

He said: "They have been very good with us so far. There will be frustrations like the other night. We have to get them going and I'm confident we can get back to our best form."

Meanwhile, Hartlepool boss Wilson says he is far from intimidated by the task of facing Leicester just four days after going so close to knocking Leeds out of the Carling Cup.

And Wilson believes their final position will depend on how they perform against similar League One outfits.

He said: "We can all play well against the better teams and the fans can be up for the bigger games but it's the other games that are big in my mind, playing the likes of Stockport away."