- Dean Smith has spoken to the media ahead of his first Leicester City match
- The 52-year-old is in charge at King Power Stadium for the rest of the season
- Youri Tielemans could play a part for the Foxes this weekend, he says
- City take on Manchester City away from home on Saturday (5:30pm kick-off)
The Foxes head to Etihad Stadium for a 5:30pm kick-off in what will be Dean Smith's first match in charge. The 52-year-old has inherited a squad which sits 19th in the Premier League, two points from safety, with eight games to go.
Belgium midfielder Tielemans has not featured for City since late February due to an ankle injury, but has returned to training this week. Smith, formerly of Brentford and Aston Villa, says Leicester's No.8 could play some part in Manchester.
"He’s available for selection," Smith told the media during his first press conference in Seagrave. "He hasn’t done a lot of minutes in training. We’ll asses whether he can start or come on as a substitute. I look at the likes of him and Jonny [Evans] and I think they make the team more calm, they give experience and quality, so they’re going to be very important."
Evans (hamstring) has trained this week too, although City will be without Ricardo Pereira and Harvey Barnes. Both are also out with hamstring complaints, although Barnes is expected to be back earlier than Ricardo.
"Unfortunately, we’ve got a couple of players missing at the moment in key areas," Smith explained. "Harvey Barnes will be out certainly on Saturday. He’s touch and go for next Saturday. The quality they’ve shown has impressed us all.
"We’ve been happy with what we’ve seen so far and we feel there’s enough there. Ricky felt his hamstring after the game last week. His looks a little worse than Harvey’s so I think he’ll be out for a few weeks. Harvey’s is in an area of the hamstring we’re less worried about, but [missing Ricardo] takes away our wide options."
Irrespective of available of players, Smith knows what he wants to see from Leicester's players. The new Manager also says that his appointment - alongside the arrivals of First Team Coaches Craig Shakespeare and John Terry - offers a 'clean slate' for all of the Club's senior players.
Asked what he's looking for from the squad, he added: "Focus, concentration, energy levels, commitment, and the connectivity between the players throughout the team. It’s a clean slate for everyone. We’re fresh eyes on the players. We’ve liked what we’ve seen so far. We’re playing against one of the world’s best so we need all of those components to get a result."
All times BST.