Leicester City have been given a major boost with regard to the fitness of defender Matthew Upson after manager Nigel Pearson revealed that the defender is close to returning to the first-team.
The 35-year-old has not featured for Leicester since signing for the club at the start of the season on a free transfer. He was released by Brighton and Hove Albion at the end of last season. Upson was expected to provide a huge amount of experience to the Leicester City back four. The 35-year-old played 21 times for the England national team between 2003 and 2010.
Over the years, he has played several matches in the Premier League with the likes of Birmingham and West Ham. Since leaving West Ham in 2011, he has struggled to achieve a settled position at any of his previous clubs like Stoke City and Brighton. Even though he has signed a contract only until the end of the campaign with Leicester, Upson will have a major role especially given that the club have been sliding down the table in the last few weeks. After a brilliant start that saw them beat the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, Leicester have been unable to pick victories of late. This poor run of form saw them slip into the 18th place.
“Matt is training very well at the moment but hopefully he will play some part of a game next week, possibly. He is making good progress,” said Pearson. The upcoming match against Sunderland provides them a great opportunity to take three points since this match is at home. Sunderland are expected to be in the relegation trouble till the end of the season. Taking three points from this encounter will be seen as six points since they can prevent Sunderland from taking a win.