Leicester City have been made one of the League One favourites for this season and few will argue against the fact that they have both the pedigree and the financial clout to justify that claim.

The Foxes are set to make their first ever appearance at Whaddon Road on Saturday afternoon (3pm) and Cheltenham will be hoping to dent their aspirations in much the same way they did so last term to Leeds United.

City, managed by Nigel Pearson, have enjoyed a good start to the season. They dispatched MK Dons on day one of the latest campaign (2-0) and when defeating Stockport County a few days later in the Carling Cup, it was the first time City had won two in a row since April 2007.

Since then they have been held 0-0 at Stockport in the league, beaten Tranmere Rovers at the Walkers Stadium 3-1 and this week narrowly bowed out of the Carling Cup at Premiership Fulham.

It was a last-gasp Danny Murphy goal secured a dramatic Carling Cup win for Fulham against The Foxes. Former Liverpool man Murphy hit a 25-yard drive two minutes into injury time that took a heavy deflection and flew in.

Fulham had taken an early lead in the tie, but City's Paul Dickov rammed one in and Andy King curled home from 18 yards for Leicester before Jimmy Bullard's 25-yarder levelled it and Murphy won it for Fulham.

The late drama was desperately harsh on Leicester, who more than matched their Premier League opponents at Craven Cottage.

Leicester manager Nigel Pearson told BBC Radio Leicester after the Fulham game, "We probably deserved to nick it but we didn't and we've got to deal with it. It's as simple as that."

"Our boys have got something to aspire to. We didn't do ourselves any harm in terms of how we went about it."

"We play with a lot of spirit and we play with discipline and creativity at times."

"I've got every confidence in the players that they will respond in the right way now."

Leicester City have steadily re-built their squad over the summer months following the shock reality of last terms relegation.

Their latest recruit is veteran defender Chris Powell who has joined the club on a six month contract this week.

The 38 year-old left-back began his career with Crystal Palace before spells with Aldershot, Southend and Derby.

His most memorable period however was at Charlton, where Powell won an England call-up, from Sven-Goran Eriksson, in 2001. He went on to play for West Ham and Watford before rejoining Charlton.

City will be hoping to bounce back into the Championship at their first attempt and astutely have been rebuilding their squad with players capable of mixing it in League One.

Recently other former 'big guns' finding themselves at this level have not always had it their own way and struggled to regain their higher status.

In appointing Nigel Pearson to the managers post this summer City club chairman Milan Mandaric is confident that he's got the right man for the job.

The former Shrewsbury, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough defender has gained his previous managerial experience with the likes of Carlisle, WBA, Newcastle and Southampton. Mandaric will now expect him to push his team back up the footballing ladder.

Leicester City summer in's and out's;

In: Chris Powell (unattached, free), (Paul Dickov (Manchester City, free), David Martin (Liverpool, loan), Jack Hobbs (Liverpool, loan), Kerrea Gilbert (Arsenal, loan), Aleksander Tunchev (CSKA Moscow, undisclosed), Michael Morrison (Cambridge Utd, undisclosed), Lloyd Dyer (MK Dons, free), Nicky Adams (Bury, undisclosed), Harry Worley (Chelsea, undisclosed).
Out: Conrad Logan (Luton, loan), Ricky Sappleton (AFC Bournemouth, loan), Barry Hayles (Cheltenham Town, loan), James Chambers (Doncaster Rovers, undisclosed), Louis Dodds (Port Vale, undisclosed), Alan Sheehan (Leeds Utd, undisclosed), Iain Hulme (Barnsley, £1.2million), Richard Stearmen (Wolves, undisclosed), Gareth McAuley (Ipswich, undisclosed), Sergio Hellings, Alan Maybury, Rab Douglas, Elvis Hammond, Jamie Clapham, Gabor Bori, Zsolt Laczko (all released).