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Leicester boss Micky Adams is facing another gruelling few weeks as the 2003/04 season draws to a close with his team still struggling against relegation, however Sir Alex Ferguson has offered words of comfort for him ahead of tonight's clash at Old Trafford.
The Foxes have endured a miserable 2004, culminating with the La Manga incident, and find themselves second from bottom after the Easter weekend, six points from safety.
Although they have a game in hand on some of the teams above them, unfortunately for Leicester, that game is at Old Trafford against Ferguson's team.
"Micky has faced some difficult situations over the last couple of months but he has probably learned more in that time than he did in his previous two years at the club," said the United boss.
"You have to say he has done a terrific job. He has welded a really strong unit who are not afraid to attack. They scrap for everything, but that is only what you would expect from a team near the bottom. I feel they have a lot more than that. Their set-piece play is very good and so is their attitude. They are not afraid to have a go and we need to be wary of that tonight.
"Attacking-wise, Leicester are a real handful," said Ferguson. "I don't know how they lost against Fulham on Saturday and offensively they did really well against Leeds in the previous game.
"So, despite their league position, defensively we have a job to do and it won't be easy. The encouraging thing for me is that we are becoming far more sound in that area of our game. We have had a settled back four in recent weeks and the more they play together the better we become."
United have been boosted by Chelsea's results this weekend, which have left Ranieri's side just six points ahead of last season's champions, who have two games in hand. Second place is well within United's grasp now, especially with Chelsea still to play at Old Trafford, and with the distraction of Champions League semi-finals.
"The main target is just for us to win our games," Ferguson insisted. "We have an FA Cup Final on May 22 and we want to be bouncing into it rather than staggering to the Millennium Stadium."
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