Preston North End boss Paul Simpson has challenged his players to show what they are really about ahead of tonight's Championship clash against Leicester City.

Simmo claims that his side have only scratched the surface in terms of what they are capable of, but that his players need to understand the situation that they are in and start picking up the points as soon as possible.

"It's about time that we went out as a group of players ready to go and show what we are about," Simpson said in an exclusive interview with Whites World on Tuesday lunchtime.

"We haven't shown what a good side we are yet, we've scratched the surface a little bit at times but there's a hell of a lot more to come and we have to start doing it very very soon, otherwise it gets too far away.

"I've said to the players this morning before training that last year we missed out on the smallest of margins from getting into the Play-Offs, that point that cost us could have been the two that we dropped in the first game of the season at Sheffield Wednesday last season.

"We are already a fair way into the season now and we can't afford to keep chucking points away and giving teams lifelines, we have now got to start picking up points that our play deserves.

"It's not a case of saying that we have deserved more out of it, you get exactly what you deserve, it's about going and grabbing this situation by the scruff of the neck and going and doing something about it."

The North End boss understands that the poor run of results can effect the enthusiasm of players, staff and the fans, but that the love of the game should pull through and help the players to get that spark back on the pitch.

"People just have to look at me, I'm stressed out at the moment because of the situation," confessed the North End boss.

"I love football, I love everything about it and I want to get the enthusiasm back that winning games brings you.

"We come in every day and we work hard to get the players smiling, joking and laughing but today I have said it's business time, it's time to get down to doing what we all know we can do, we haven't quite done it yet but we have got to make sure that tonight is the night where we start."

PNE won their last Deepdale outing 2-0 at home to Plymouth and after that match Simpson went on to say that he had picked a hard-working side to do the business. But the Preston gaffer also admits that hard-work should come as standard and that he's demanding much more from his players now.

He said: "It's ridiculous that we are saying that we want players to go and work hard, that's the base whether you are a professional footballer or whether you play for fun on the park, that's the base, you are expected to go and work hard.

"All those people who have turned up and paid good money to watch us, that's what they expect from us, they expect us to go and work hard. If we can do that and then we can add the other bits to it then hopefully we won't be too far off."

With only one player, Wayne Henderson, currently out injured, the Lilywhites gaffer has plenty of scope to change things and with Leicester currently setting-up in an ultra-defensive 5-4-1 formation that's exactly what Simpson intends to do.

"It's a good position to be in, it gives me a selection headache, it gives me a problem trying to keep players happy. I've just got to pick a side that I believe can go and get a result against Leicester tonight.

"I've said to the players before the game at the weekend and I've said it to them again that over the course of the season we will all be needed, everybody will be required at some point.

"There will be changes to it tonight and it's up to them to go out and perform and get the result that we all desperately want."

You can watch a full and extended interview with the manager, where he discusses Rob Kelly's insight into the opposition, exclusively on Whites World.