Millwall boss knows grit and tenacity essential as he prepares for Leicester City test

Joe Edwards knows that his Millwall side are going to have to show resilience in tomorrow night’s trip to Championship leaders Leicester City.

The Lions want to transition into being a team more comfortable on the ball under the former Chelsea and Everton coach, who succeeded Gary Rowett at the start of last month.

Leicester won 4-0 at home to Plymouth at the weekend and only Ipswich (27) have taken more points on their own turf. City have banked 24 – the same as Leeds United, another club who were in the Premier League until relegation at the end of the previous campaign.

The Foxes have conceded just 12 goals in 20 league matches – making them the most miserly defence at the level and they are second for possession as well as topping the charts for xG (expected goals). Only Leeds (47) have created more than their 44 big chances.

“You have to remember my recent history has been working in the Premier League and Leicester were a regular opponent of mine,” Millwall head coach Edwards told the South London Press. “I was working at Chelsea a few years ago where a couple of years, consecutively, we were competing for the top four with Leicester.

“I was actually on the receiving end of an FA Cup final defeat to them. To then only fast forward a couple of years and they are in this division reminds you how big of a shock it was last season for them to go down. They were in a great place at one point.

“They have held on to a lot of their players and, credit to the coach, they do play good football. The Championship isn’t an easy league – there are definitely no easy games – but they have done what a lot of people would probably have expected and really dominated the division.

“We go there knowing it will be a really tough game. We’ve spoken a lot about trying to have more of the ball and be better with the ball since I’ve come in – but we’re under no illusions this is going to be a game where Leicester will have more of the ball than us. It will be about us being resolute, compact and defending really well.

“We know their threats – they’ve got a lot. They can hurt you in many different ways. If they have long spells of possession they can end up opening you up and equally if you get caught being too keen or too aggressive with your pressing then they can use that pace to go in behind you.

“It’s a game where we have to be ready to dig in and any opportunity we get to hurt them, try to take it.”