Sven clearly sees the Tigers as genuine "rivals" in the run in this season. However, his comments expressed the hope that, because we've already played Leicester twice, Hobbs might help us to gain points off the teams that are currently above both of us. The problem that both Leicester and us face is that the teams above us are accumulating points at a similar rate and the ground will be increasingly difficult to make up.
In response to the rantings of the semi-literate chump from Leicester - they did deserve their close victory in January but our current team is significantly changed both in personnel and style since that day. I suspect that both teams would be challenging for automatic promotion had they had their current lineups since day one.
Finally, I can't be bothered to work it out, but having lost just the one game in the last sixteen I guess that we would also be very highly placed in a a hypothetical league starting on Sven's first day at Leicester.