Previewing Leicester's FA Cup Battle With Birmingham
Leicester gained safe passage to Saturday's fixture after beating Derby County 4-0 last month at Don Amott Arena, as Lena Petermann, Janice Cayman and Deanne Rose all found the net.
Now looking forward to a fifth round fixture in the competition, here is a detailed look at both sides...
The Foxes camp
City head into the weekend off the back of a 2-0 loss to Manchester City in the Barclays Women's Super League, but it took the hosts 82 minutes to find a way through at Joie Stadium when Lauren Hemp scored, before Chloe Kelly doubled their advantage moments later.
Saturday will pose an opportunity for Leicester to reach the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time since 2020, should they beat Barclays Women's Championship side Birmingham in Burton.
New signings Saori Takarada and Yuka Momiki continue to impress while Emilia Pelgander and Asmita Ale will be targeting minutes on the pitch, with the former being introduced late on for her City debut last weekend.
The opposition
After a promising start to the 2023/24 season, Birmingham currently sit fifth in the Championship with 26 points; winning eight of their 14 games, however only remain four points behind leaders Charlton Athletic with a game in hand.
The Blues have only lost once in their last six outings, coming last weekend on the road to Watford, as a brace from Michelle Agyemang confirmed defeat.
Birmingham beat Burnley in the fourth round away from home. Former Fox Libby Smith opened the scoring before a late equalising penalty from Millie Ravening sent the game to extra-time. Claudia Walker and Jade Ellis then netted the decisive goals at Lancashire FA County Ground.
In the dugout
Darren Carter will be in the away dugout this weekend, having signed a two-year deal with Birmingham as head coach in May 2022 as they aim for promotion back to the top-flight.
The former centre midfielder came through the ranks at Birmingham at the start of the millennium and won the 2002 Football League First Division Play-Off Final, beating Norwich City in 2002.
Last time out
The Foxes have beaten the Blues twice in previous meetings, both times during the 2021/22 WSL season. First of all in December at King Power Stadium when goals from Sophie Howard and Sam Tierney resulted in three points for City.
That was followed up in April with a 2-1 win at St. Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium; Jess Sigsworth scored a penalty on the half-an-hour mark before Jemma Purfield doubled Leicester's lead. A Louise Quinn goal in the 85th minute was nothing more than a consolation.
CITY
The latest issue of CITY, the Club's official matchday publication, is available to download in mobile or desktop format. It features an interview with New Zealand defender CJ Bott, who spoke about the aims and ambitions for the remainder of the season.
She commented: "We’ve got a great bunch of defenders and there’s a lot of healthy competition between us all. All of us want to be starting, all of us want to be getting as many minutes as we can but at the same time, we all just want what’s best for the team so we’ll all work really hard in training and challenge each other and do what we can for the team."
Coverage & tickets
Ticketing information and a guide on how to follow the Foxes this weekend in the FA Cup can be found HERE.