After Wilfred Ndidi and Cesare Casadei were forced to be replaced, Enzo Maresca started Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Dennis Praet in the last three Championship games.

Dennis Praet, according to manager Enzo Maresca, is improving with each game and appears to have found a comfortable spot in Leicester City’s trouble area.

Praet looks to be winning the battle to play in attacking midfield alongside Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Kasey McAteer, and Yunus Akgun. Praet has started City’s last three Championship games. Once Chelsea called up Cesare Casadei and Wilfred Ndidi sustained a serious muscle injury, it turned into a competitive position for City.

p:nth-of-type(6)","type":"performPlaceholder","relativePos":"after"}" data-placeholder-placeholder="" data-response-start="10970.400000002235" data-type="placeholder">Still, Praet seems to be the manager’s first pick. Maresca gave Praet high marks early in the season, but he was sidelined for four months due to a back injury. After the 29-year-old’s Watford debut, Maresca said, “He gives us more physicality in the middle, and he is a quality player.”

Praet performed well enough to establish himself as an attacking option in Saturday’s match between City and Middlesbrough, making him one of their better players. The Belgian may have been unlucky not to generate more chances with his crosses inside, but his regularly strong runs on the inside-right channel saw him receive more progressive passes and have more touches inside the box than any other City player.

p:nth-of-type(6)","type":"performPlaceholder","relativePos":"after"}" data-placeholder-placeholder="" data-response-start="10970.400000002235" data-type="placeholder">Following the loss, Maresca stated, “Dennis is improving for me every game.” He repeatedly showed up and crossed the ball. We weren’t always there, but we were occasionally. Overall, I thought Dennis played a really solid game.

In Friday night’s crucial match against promotion rivals Leeds, he is expected to start for City and make his historic 100th appearance for the team. He hasn’t, however, yet finished a league game for City.

p:nth-of-type(6)","type":"performPlaceholder","relativePos":"after"}" data-placeholder-placeholder="" data-response-start="10970.400000002235" data-type="placeholder">With the midfielder being replaced just before added time started, Praet’s 90 minutes in a City league match against Boro was the closest he has ever been to playing the entire game. But since joining from Sampdoria in 2019, he has played in 74 league games without finishing the match from start to finish.

At the completion of the current campaign, Praet is one of six City players whose contracts expire.Maresca has already stated that the team will hold off on starting negotiations with people whose contracts are about to expire until their league standing is more evident.