Harvey Barnes has warned his Leicester City team-mates time is running out for them to put things right in their quest to avoid Premier League relegation.
Managerless Leicester have taken just one point from their past seven games ahead of Saturday s huge showdown with fellow strugglers Bournemouth at the King Power Stadium.
City are one place below Bournemouth in 19th, but just three points separate themselves and Wolves in 14th, meaning victory this weekend could change the relegation picture entirely.
The quality is there. You see it when you look around at the players we have here, and it s difficult to see that we re in this position, but we are, Barnes told Leicester s website.
There are teams who are doing a lot better than us in the league that on paper may not have the quality that we do here, but they ve got it right and everything is working well.
That s what we ve struggled with this year, and we ve got to put things right. We re obviously not happy with the position that we re in; that s clear for everyone to see.
First-team coach Adam Sadler will remain in caretaker charge of Leicester this weekend following the sacking of Brendan Rodgers.
Bournemouth themselves have a chance to climb out of the relegation zone, having kept their hopes alive with three wins in their past seven games.
Following a run of fixtures against top-half sides, Bournemouth head coach Gary O Neill is expecting a real battle in the six-pointer with Leicester.
We ve had six games on the trot against a team in the top 10, and we ve had a right go in all of them, he said.
We ve taken a decent amount of points and put ourselves in a decent position to have a right good crack at the last few games.
It doesn’t mean the next ones are going to be any easier. Going to Leicester will be tough. There s no doubt they will be scrapping for everything.
A big moment in our season so far
Who was there in October for our comeback win against Leicester?!
— AFC Bournemouth (@afcbournemouth)
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Leicester City – Jamie Vardy
There is no denying that Vardy is no longer the prolific striker he was for Leicester, having scored just one goal in 28 Premier League games this term – 12 of those being starts.
However, he has been involved in eight goals in 13 league games against Bournemouth (seven goals, one assist), with six of those coming in six games on home soil.
Bournemouth – Marcus Tavernier
Tavernier has grown more and more in importance for the Cherries, the versatile midfielder assisting four goals and scoring four more in his past seven outings.
He has scored in Bournemouth s past two away Premier League games and could become the second player to score in three in a row for the club after Joshua King in March 2017.
MATCH PREDICTION – LEICESTER WIN
Bournemouth have won their past two games against Leicester and are seeking a first home-and-away league double in this fixture since the 1988-99 campaign.
The Cherries have lost eight of their past nine Premier League away games, however, and have kept just one clean sheet in their last 24 top-flight games on the road.
Leicester have never lost a home Premier League game against Bournemouth in five previous meetings, meanwhile, and will consider this a big opportunity to kick-start their season.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Leicester City – 61.8 per cent
Bournemouth – 15.3 per cent
Draw – 22.9 per cent
