Leicester manager tasks Ndidi to rediscover old form

Leicester City manager Dean Smith wants Super Eagles Wilfred Ndidi to be the “thorn in the side” of the Foxes' opponents, just as the midfielder was whenever the manager faced him with Aston Villa.

Ndidi has had a tough couple of weeks at City, playing a loose pass to set up Villa’s winner at the King Power Stadium and then conceding a penalty at Manchester City last Saturday.

The Nigerian also lost a 50-50 with Kevin De Bruyne in the build-up to Erling Haaland netting the third.

He has even been struggling to break up play as often as he usually does, having failed to complete a single tackle in the past two matches.

Before those two blanks, there had only been one game in three years where Ndidi had not made a tackle.

However, he retains Smith’s faith. The manager has seen first hand how effective he can be thanks to previous matches between City and Villa, while he also said that a lot of his good work can go unnoticed.

“Wilf’s a top player,” Smith said. “He’s another player who I’ve seen a lot over the years and has probably been a bit of a thorn in my side when I’ve played against him.

“I looked back at the third goal and whether he can win the ball I’m not sure, but we both agreed when we spoke about it that he shouldn’t let De Bruyne get the other side of him.

 “But there’s a number of things that happened with that. The pass back could have gone forward. We should have made contact with Haaland before he made the run. So there were a number of things that could have helped to stop that goal. I thought he was unfortunate with the handball incident.

“But I like Wilf, I think he’s a really good player. He’s one that protects, and people sometimes miss the fact he defends our box really well aerially and physically. He can be a threat in the opposition box as well. There are many aspects to his game that can help us.”