LEICESTER are chasing further progress up the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership table as they go into a big home match against Sheffield on Monday (7.30pm).
The Watling JCB Lions face the Tigers home and away this week - Thursday night being the re-arranged Round 1 fixture - and they are currently four points behind the South Yorkshire side in the standings.
And it’s the Lions who have had the better of things between the clubs so far this season as last month saw them race to home and away wins over the Tigers in the KO Cup semi-final, as well as inflicting the Owlerton outfit’s heaviest defeat of the league campaign.
Sheffield have only been beaten three times in the Premiership so far in 2025 with the Lions showing their strength at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park with an emphatic 56-34 victory on June 9.
But the Tigers certainly should not be underestimated on the road as they responded to that result with a huge win at Birmingham one week later, and they have also been successful this season at King’s Lynn and Oxford, the latter in a Super Heat.
Shefield were also in dominant form on their home track last week when they slammed Oxford 60-30 with Rising Star Leon Flint returning from injury to score a paid maximum.
Lions are currently eight points clear of King’s Lynn in the race for the Premiership play-offs, and they name an unchanged team with rider replacement again in operation for Luke Becker at No.2, although they will track Richard Lawson as a guest in Thursday’s return fixture.
Sheffield are at full strength with No.1 Jack Holder – who missed their previous visit – currently fifth in the World Championship standings, whilst skipper Josh Pickering is one of the sport’s most exciting riders, and there are several former Lions in the lower order.
Manager Stewart Dickson said: “We’ve got the Cup Final to come next week but there’s a lot of racing to come before that, and we want more league points to cement our place in the top four, as well as looking to go higher if we can.
“It’s been good to see us rattling up 53s and 54s at home on a regular basis, which is the consistency we had last summer, but we’re under no illusions because Monday is still a difficult fixture.
“I expect Sheffield to be much stronger here than on their previous visits this season, and we need to be ready for that because they will be fired up after those results.
“I’d urge everyone to come along and get right behind us, as this is a very exciting stage of the season where we have the chance to get major silverware next week and also to keep things going in the league.”
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker r/r, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Anders Rowe, Josh Pickering, Lewis Kerr, Chris Holder, Justin Sedgmen, Leon Flint.
