Dean Smith calls on James Maddison to help lead Leicester to Premier League survival

Dean Smith has backed James Maddison to help drag Leicester out of relegation trouble just as Jack Grealish did for Aston Villa three years ago.

Grealish was inspirational as Smith kept Villa above the line on the final day of the 2019-20 campaign, and now Smith aims to repeat the trick with the Foxes, who are two points adrift of safety with eight games remaining.

Smith will come face to face with Grealish on Saturday when Leicester travel to Manchester City but it is Maddison – a friend of Grealish and a similarly creative player – who he must bring the best from now.

Maddison has had a fine season but made a crucial mistake in last weekend’s 1-0 home defeat by Bournemouth, after which he said he felt ‘very low and sad’.

Smith said: ‘James is an excellent footballer. He held his hands up after making a mistake but the first thing I asked him was why he was coming so deep to get the ball.

Smith wants James Maddison (pictured) to be a big player for Leicester during the season run-in

‘The second thing I asked was why we had given him the ball when there was no forward pass for him to play.

‘He will learn and get better but he is our second-top goalscorer this season. He can be a big player but we have to get him into areas where he can hurt the opposition, similar to what we did with Jack at Villa.’

Smith and his coaching team Craig Shakespeare – a former Leicester coach and manager – and John Terry have signed deals until the end of the season, following the sacking of Brendan Rodgers on April 2.

The 52-year-old insisted there had been no discussions about extending the arrangement if Leicester stay up, focusing instead on improving the mood of the squad.

Maddison has been the bright spark in a season of struggles for Leicester

Smith (left) believes Maddison can play a similar role to what Jack Grealish (right) did at Aston Villa

Mail Sport understands Leicester have responded positively to Smith’s arrival, with increased enthusiasm and energy in training this week.

Smith said: ‘We can’t get away from seven defeats from eight games and the confidence isn’t high. I know the players needed a lift and I was confident we could do it.

‘Against Bournemouth the players were lethargic and we’ve tried to get that out of them by making training a bit more fun and intense, a bit frantic. I feel we’ve had a response. Time is not our friend – we’ve got eight games in seven weeks.

‘The main reason I took the job was because Craig and John wanted to come with me. I looked at the squad and fixtures and felt there were games to be won. It’s certainly not insurmountable.’