Gary Rowett makes Harry Winks revelation at Leicester City - fans will love this | OneFootball

The influential midfielder was dropped for Leicester's midweek win over Bristol City

Gary Rowett made one tactical change in his squad selection for Leicester City's recent midweek battle with Bristol City, and helped the Foxes climb out of the relegation zone.

The 2-0 win at the King Power Stadium against the Robins was Leicester's first win under their new manager and their first in the Championship in over two months. Plus, it was their first clean sheet in a whopping 30 league games since their goalless draw with Coventry City in September.

It's given the Foxes a lifeline in this relegation scrap. With nine games remaining, their destiny is back in their hands, and with Blackburn Rovers falling to a resurgent, but still relegation zone-dwelling Oxford United, there's another team within their reach to catch.

Out of the five teams separated by just three points between 19th and 23rd, Leicester clearly have the most quality on the field, which allowed Gary Rowett to shuffle his pack and play a midfield pivot of Jordan James and Oliver Skipp against Bristol City.

That meant dropping Harry Winks, though, who had been one of the better performers during this ongoing slump.

Gary Rowett explains Harry Winks' squad decision, and how he reacted to it

Winks won Man of the Match in Leicester's hard-fought 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town last weekend, but his five-game run in the starting eleven came to an end on Tuesday night in the win against Bristol City.

Instead, James came in for his first start since going down with a hamstring injury in late January to partner with Skipp in the heart of the midfield.

"I just felt I wanted to play with two eights and I wanted to test them (Bristol City) in a different way," Rowett said, via Leicestershire Live, when questioned about his squad selection. "I felt it needed someone with more defensive diligence at the heart of our midfield.

"I spoke to Winksy. I'll always speak to players and explain my reasoning. He was a really interesting one because certainly in the first four games, he's been our best player in possession of the ball.

"He (Winks) understood that. He said to me: 'All that matters is that we win.'

"I've seen it with the way he scored against Stoke, I've seen it with the way he came on today. He was fantastic, and he cares. He does really want to finish the season strongly."

Winks would come on with 22 minutes to go to help consolidate the two-goal lead that Leicester had built inside the opening half hour through Ben Nelson and Abdul Fatawu.

It's been a difficult campaign, both on and off the field, at the King Power Stadium, but this big win over Bristol City could be the turning point needed to help secure their Championship status for next season.

Leicester City teammates need to follow in Harry Winks' footsteps to secure survival

Several Leicester players have been criticised by people for not showing fight and passion in the midst of this current relegation battle, but Winks has shown real desire to get the club out of their current predicament.

Despite it being revealed that his contract with the Foxes is expected to run out at the end of next season, rather than this, people still feel that the 30-year-old could be in the final few months of his Leicester career.

If he is, and he were to be sold at the end of the campaign, he's making sure that he's doing everything he can to leave knowing that he helped contribute to Leicester avoiding what would be a disastrous second successive relegation to League One.

Winks is leading by example currently at the King Power, putting the success of the team ahead of his own ideas, and more will need to adopt that mindset if Leicester are to kick on from this and pull away from danger.