MIDFIELDER Richard Hughes has warned his Cherries team-mates to be wary of the all-round threat posed by Leicester striker David Nugent.

Hughes played alongside Nugent during his two spells at Portsmouth, the first of which saw him move to Fratton Park for £6million in 2007.

Nugent, 28, has been the Foxes’ leading goalscorer for the past two seasons and again tops the charts with seven, his tally boosted by five penalties.

However, Hughes, who also freelances for BT Sport as an expert summariser, says there is a lot more to Nugent’s game than just goals.

He told the Daily Echo: “He has fantastic goalscoring ability but is also a very good team player.

“He is always there when you need him and you can tell by the way he trains that he is a natural goalscorer.

“His movement is excellent, he is very sharp in and around the box and he always wants to get on the end of chances.

“Having worked with him at close quarters, it doesn’t surprise that he has such a good record in the Championship. Even if he is not scoring himself, he is always a help to his team-mates.

“He gets his fellow strikers into scoring situations because you always have to be aware of him. Sometimes, teams make the mistake of taking their eye off him and we have got to make sure we don’t do that.

“I imagine Leicester will have a number of different options so we will clearly have to be on our game if we are to keep a clean sheet there.”

Meanwhile, manager Nigel Pearson knows Leicester may have to adopt a patient approach if they are to maintain their unbeaten home record.

The Foxes, currently third in the Championship, meet Cherries for the first time since the clubs locked horns in the second flight in the late 1990s.

Pearson said: “Looking at their game last week, they set themselves up to be difficult to beat and they have one or two counter-attacking options we have to be aware of.

“They have a very good team ethic and work hard. The onus is always on us to go out and get our performance right but we have to be prepared for a tough game where we might have to be patient.

"They have been involved in a couple of high-scoring games but have won a high-scoring game themselves so we know they have a very good group ethic. I think they have adapted very well to the division.

"We have to make sure we are not surprised by them but also the key to success is getting our own performance right. The players have done that well so far this season and we need to replicate that.”