Winks Loving Life Under Maresca At Leicester
- Leicester City visit MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium to tackle QPR on Saturday (3pm BST kick-off)
- Harry Winks has discussed his start to life at the Club
- The former Tottenham man says he's enjoying his football with City
- He also reflects on Tuesday's 1-0 success over Sunderland at King Power Stadium
Tuesday's victory over Sunderland at King Power Stadium - courtesy of a James Justin header - made it 12 wins in 13 Sky Bet Championship matches for City, who are top of the second-tier standings.
That success made it four consecutive home wins without conceding a goal for the first time in 50 years, while Enzo Maresca's men are also on a Club-record away winning run (6).
Winks has started every one of the Foxes' league games this term. A summer recruit from Tottenham Hotspur, it was a move which saw the England midfielder drop down a tier, but he's overjoyed with his start to a new life in the East Midlands.
"I’m loving it," he said this week. "It’s probably the most I’ve enjoyed my football in years.
Justin's Header Wins It Against Sunderland
James Justin's goal was the difference as Leicester City beat Sunderland 1-0 at King Power Stadium.
"The style of the team, the way the Manager sets us up, the way he encourages us to play… 'if you make mistakes, that’s football', and to just enjoy playing is everything I’ve always wanted and how I’ve always wanted to play.
"You can see how well we’re playing as a team and how everyone’s performing individually. That’s a credit to the Manager and how he’s come in and put his philosophy onto us.
"We know how abnormal [the start to the season] is. I think it’s credit to everybody in the squad, working so hard every day, and everyone’s humble enough to realise that we need to keep working, keep improving.
"The Manager doesn’t let us forget that. The minute we rest on our laurels and forget about that is when you get punished. We’re taking every game with the utmost respect to the opposition. We’re working as hard as we can and hopefully we can keep winning games."
Queens Park Rangers, currently 23rd in the Championship, are next up at MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium on Saturday and Winks is anticipating a tough test from Gareth Ainsworth's Hoops. Leicester, though, will stick to their ideals in the capital, says City's No.8. Another three points will see Maresca's in-form side match the Club's all-time record of nine consecutive league wins, sealed in 2014.
"It's going to be another tough game, a different kind of game," he added. "We’ve got to get the recovery in now and get ready for another game. We know what the Championship’s like.
"It’s thick and fast and it’s another game we’ve got to prepare for and respect. We’ll go there with the utmost respect to the opposition, but we’re going there to win – as we do in every game. We expect a physical game.
"They’re the home team, so they’re going to need a result. They’re going to want to beat Leicester. Everybody wants to beat Leicester at the moment, which we know. It’s another game where we need to go there 100 per cent and try and get another result. The Manager always says: ‘We can’t control the result, but we can control how we approach it’. We’ll go into the game with a plan."
Reflecting on Tuesday's win over Sunderland, an eighth league victory in a row, Winks had praise for the Black Cats, who stood up to the Foxes' playing style on Filbert Way.
"I think it’s probably the toughest game we’ve played," the 27-year-old explained. "Especially at home because they’ve come at us and credit to them. They’re a young, energetic side and they went man-to-man with us and they did really well.
"Normally, these are the kind of games we enjoy. We have the ideas of playing through it, but these are also the games where you have to grind out the results and find another gear of winning – and I think we did that.
"We weren’t happy with how we played on the ball, but the most important thing is that we got the three points. In three or four months’ time when these games are forgotten about, the most important thing is that the three points are still there.
"Sometimes in this league, you have to do that, and I think we showed a real good character that you need to have in the Championship."