Both sets of fans might well be wondering what has happened to their clubs in the last five years, ahead of this double header against the Foxes, after all it was only 5 years ago that the two clubs met at Wembley in an FA Cup semi final.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since that day in April 2021, although Leicester not only triumphed at Wembley that day , they also won the final itself.

But since then both clubs have been relegated from the Premier League twice and in the case of Leicester have now suffered a 6 point deduction that makes this game a desperate one for them as they sit too close to comfort to the relegation zone.

But it could get worse for the East Midlands club as rumours abound in footballing circles that they could be heading for administration. although these are just that at the moment, rumours.

Certainly they seem to be clearing the decks, this summer has seen a lot of players leaving and little spent to replace them and what has come in have been all free transfers or loans including our own Joe Aribo who of course won't be able to play this evening.

Although 2026 started well for them with a win over now fellow relegation strugglers West Brom, since then they have lost 4 and drawn just 1 of the 5 League games played since, a run that when the 6 point deduction is made sees them sit 4th from bottom on 32 points out of the bottom 3 only on goal difference.

Of course it would not look quite so bad without that deduction, but they would have still been looking over their shoulders on just 38 points.

So the two teams meet this evening with very contrasting fortunes, although it should be noted with a caution that only two games ago, just before that points deduction we were a point behind them.

But we go their with confidence and on paper at least a strong squad that in recent weeks is starting to find the form it is capable of.

It seems that we have cleaned out the issues in the squad and now have a group of players who are committed to the club and are behind the manager.

On Saturday it was like having two new additions to the squad, not only Cyle Larin who made an explosive start to his Saints career, but the return of Sam Edozie who has been isolated all season and came back in and played his first game for the club in 18 months.

This could be crucial, Leo Scienza is clearly managing his injury at the moment and can't seem to get much past the hour mark at the moment, Edozie as was shown against Watford is a natural replacement for him, although it has to be said that we have other options, both attacking and defensive.

So I think there are only three potential changes from Saturday's starting line up, the first is whether Scienza can start a second game only 3 days after the win over Watford and whether he is rested on the bench for insurance with Edozie coming in to replace him.

Up front it is a similar dilemma, can Ross Stewart manage a second start in 3 days and if not is Cyle Larin fit enough to start.

The answer to that is that he should be, because although he has been used sparingly by Feyenoord in the league, he has started games in the Europa league, on 29th January he played 74 minutes in that competition.

In the centre of midfield, although Flynn Downes might be fit after coming off against Watford, I think he might not be risked and Shea Charles will come in.

But apart from those three changes, unless there is an injury that we are not aware of, then why would Tonda Eckert make any other, with the FA Cup game against the same opposition on Saturday, he can rest other players in that game.

The thinking should be for this one, don't try and fix it if it ain't broke, keep the same team together and building up confidence and momentum.

Saturday was a well fought win, but it did nothing for our 14th position in the League, although it did reduce our deficit between the play offs to 4 points and that was significant.

A win tonight could see us as high as 8th and within a point of the play offs, this is essential if we are to harbour any hopes of the play offs, the earlier we cut the gap, the more it will give us a psychological advantage.

So we just need to keep on doing in the last few games, we are back to the form that we were in during the initial run of games under Eckert, everyone in the team now knows what their job is and the return to a back four is clearly a line up that the players feel more comfortable with.

For those who are intending watching it at home, apparently the game will not be available on Sky Sports, according to Daily Echo reporter Alfie House, this is due to the fact that this game is rescheduled from Saturday when a blackout would be in place due to FA Cup games being played, so as it could not have been shown on Saturday, it can't be shown now.

I assume that the Birmingham V West Brom game & Oxford V Norwich which are being shown on Sky, are not games rescheduled due to the FA Cup.

You couldn't make up rules like this, only football would enforce something as ludicrous as this, preventing a lot of supporters from watching a game of football.

So the message tonight is simple, we just have to keep on doing what we have been doing and keep doing it well !

All Photos Via Reuters