Unai Emery is looking for Aston Villa to continue their push up the Premier League table when they travel to Leicester City on Tuesday night.
Villa make the short trip east across the Midlands to King Power Stadium on the back of a five-match unbeaten run, culminating in a 2-0 win at Chelsea last time out.
Emery wants to see his team continue that sequence but is wary of the Foxes’ threat after coming unstuck against them in February.
“We lost against them before. They are in the bottom but they have very good players. We know that,” he said.
“We are going to respect them and try to be consistent in our way, trying to be competitive like we are doing away.
“It's something where we have to be defensively strong like we were against Chelsea. We need more from our defence and goalkeeper.
“Of course, we want to add offensively more moments and to keep ball possession better than [v Chelsea]. That is the key for Tuesday: defend like we did against Chelsea and to try to control the game more with the ball.
“We have to adapt as well because they are in a difficult moment, Leicester, and I know they'll improve and will play facing us with their power and their quality.”
Emery will emerge from the tunnel on Tuesday to be greeted by Leicester’s first team coaches Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell after they parted company with manager Brendan Rodgers on Sunday.
The Spaniard has improved Villa’s league position from 17th to ninth since taking over, and his sights have now shifted to pushing the teams above with three more points on Tuesday.
He said: “Escaping from the bottom was difficult. To get the top ten was difficult and now to get the position for European position is going to be more difficult than the other objectives that we did.
“We are going to be ambitious and more demanding. But we have to be realistic about how we can do it.
“The win over Chelsea was key, we're one step ahead, we did it. But Tuesday we have to be very demanding. If we win on Tuesday, maybe we can speak after the match [about Europe]. The opportunities are going to be closer.
“Of course, my mind is to always have other objectives - individually and collectively. One of them now is to be close [to Europe].”
