Leicester City

One-time Premier League title winners Leicester City should not be "anywhere near" the relegation zone in League One, says striker Emil Riis.

But with just two wins win from their opening eight matches in the third tier, the Foxes are just one point above the bottom four.

Despite back-to-back relegations and a summer shakeup at King Power Stadium, in which a number of high-profile and big earning players were moved on, Leicester dropped into League One as favourites to immediately bounce back with promotion.

Danish forward Riis was among a number of summer recruits brought in as part of Leicester's rebuild in League One, and he remains defiantly optimistic about the campaign despite the slow start to the season that has them languishing near the relegation spots.

"It's definitely not good enough, we shouldn't be anywhere near that," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"But it's early on in the season and it's a new group, but I'm sure we will up there by the end of the season."

Riis, who is Leicester's top scorer this term with four goals, says "hard work" will be needed from Russell Martin's side to turn their fortunes around.

"There is only one way out and that is keep believing and fighting," he said.

You can listen to Riis' full interview with BBC Radio Leicester by clicking the play button above, while more interviews and analysis are available on Leicester City's BBC Sounds page.

Aaron Paul, Jobi McAnuff and Tommy Smith are joined by former Hornets midfielder Tom Ince to chat about Watford, with the club in the Championship relegation zone after 10 games.

What's it like amid the constant turnover of managers in the dugout? Will they buck the trend and stick with Alessio Dionisi?

Plus, hear from Jon Rudkin, Leicester City's chief football officer, on the situation the club currently finds itself in. Will Leicester stick with Russell Martin, or do they need to make a change to ensure success?

And Tommy gives his opinion on Spygate after Southampton boss Tonda Eckert was handed a suspended six-week ban for his part in the spying scandal.

Listen to the full episode above or on BBC Sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.

Leicester City manager Russell Martin says Peterborough United will be a more mysterious prospect under new boss Robbie Savage on Saturday – but what the Foxes boss does expect from the Posh is "a lot of energy".

Savage's first League One game in charge of Peterborough will be at Leicester, a club where he spent five years and made 200-plus appearances more than two decades ago.

The 51-year-old has been in the Posh job for just seven days, having left non-league side Forest Green Rovers to replace Luke Williams.

Williams, who was sacked by the third-tier strugglers before the international break, is someone Martin knows well, having employed him as an assistant manager at MK Dons and Swansea City when he was in charge of those sides earlier in his career.

Under Williams, Martin says he "felt like they weren't far away" from turning their poor start to the season around.

Preparing for Peterborough's visit under Savage, Martin adds, has been "more difficult".

"It's a young team and they have a new manager in Robbie, who is going to give them a lot of energy," Martin told BBC Radio Leicester.

"The first few games under a new manager... you see different things emerge. It's really difficult to judge them on what's gone on previously.

"The focus is on us and it's about us and what we are going to do. We have to be aware of them and also aware of the context of the game with a new manager."

Leicester City boss Russell Martin was both "frustrated" and encouraged by Tuesday's 2-1 EFL Trophy defeat at Stevenage which leaves them second in their group.

Martin made a number of changes to the side that thumped Fulham's Under-21 side 6-1 in the opening group game in the competition last month.

Harry Souttar, who captained Australia in two friendly fixtures against Brazil during the international break, was ushered straight into the Foxes starting side for a cup tie in which 18-year-old midfielder Riley Carr made his senior debut for the club and Tommy Neal earned his first start for Leicester.

Goals from Wanya Marcal and Oliver Sanderson either side of the break put Stevenage in control before Emil Riis pulled a goal back for Martin's side.

"It's frustrating, but also the way we played was really positive," Martin told BBC Radio Leicester.

"For a team that hasn't played much together, a couple of debuts for Tommy Neal and Riley who did great, and some guys back - Christian [McFarlane] and Souttar - from international duty who haven't been here and it's some really important minutes for a lot of players on the pitch.

"But I wanted to win, we wanted to win. We will be frustrated about that but if we sort that out in both boxes, we are so close to being a really brilliant team because it was so dominant.

"We created so many chances and we should be more clinical, and we have to defend the set plays like they did, because they defended set piece with their lives and that's the difference."

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester City's style of play under boss Russell Martin will bring long-term results according to winger Tommy Watson.

The on-loan Brighton forward scored his first goals for the Foxes as he netted a brace in Tuesday's 6-1 win over Fulham under-21s in the EFL Trophy, now called the Jersey Mike's Trophy.

"There're so many positives to take. Although it hasn't been going my way in the final third, when I'm playing it's probably the most I've enjoyed my football in this style of play," Watson told BBC Radio Leicester.

"Ask any forward and this is the style you want to play as a team, although some of the fans and outside noise have been frustrated I think once it clicks it's going to be a joy to watch and a joy to play in."

Watson joined Leicester on a season-long loan in August but has started only one League One match along with six substitute appearances.

The Foxes have made a faltering start to the campaign after relegation from the Championship last season and were held 1-1 at 10-man Barnsley on Saturday.

"There was a little bit of frustration for me coming into the game, especially after the weekend," the 20-year-old said.

"As attackers we have to put it on ourselves as we had 70 minutes to win the game on Saturday and we didn't, so we wanted to be ruthless and we showed signs of it but there's so much more to come.

"The two goals are really important for my head space but the biggest positive will be what I got out of it physically - I had a bit of a knock on the second goal so I checked it at half-time but made sure I got out to finish the 90 minutes."

Because of the international break, Leicester's next league match is not until 10 October when they host Peterborough United.