Leicester warmed up for their FA Cup quarter-final date with Blackburn with an uninspiring goalless draw at Burnley which will have done little to worry the Premiership club.

The Foxes, who won at Charlton in the last round, return to Lancashire for their game against the Clarets' conquerors at Ewood Park on Sunday, but they would be wrong to divert too much attention to the cup.

This was their sixth straight league game without a win and they remain just five points above the Championship drop zone.

They did play the better football at Turf Moor but Burnley had the better chances, with Jon Oster hitting the post midway through the second half.

In truth, a stalemate was no real surprise, as the Foxes failed to score for a third successive match against a team who have managed just one goal in the same amount of time, although the opening exchanges had led spectators to believe a different outcome could be on the cards.

Burnley striker Ian Moore had a chance to break the deadlock inside the first minute but could not control an insightful Jean-Louis Valois pass which would have put him clean through on goal.

Craig Levein made five changes to his under-achieving Foxes side following their 1-0 derby defeat by Nottingham Forest.

And they also registered a couple of early chances with home goalkeeper Brian Jensen tipping away Stephen Hughes' long-range effort and an unmarked Patrick McCarthy, making his debut following a £100,000 move from Manchester City, heading wide from the subsequent corner.

In reply, City goalkeeper Ian Walker had to be alert to rush out to Graham Branch's through-ball, before Nikos Dabizas crucially got his head to Frank Sinclair's far post cross, thwarting Moore on each occasion.

Neither side needed an invitation to get forward and Jensen did well to hold a lob from David Connolly, hit on the bounce from Hughes' pass.

After a promising opening, the game became scrappier, although Tommy Wright did well on the break and Connolly just failed to make contact with the youngster's cross, which rolled across the Clarets' six-yard line.

Moore began the second half as he did the first and narrowly headed over from Michael Duff's cross before the little striker turned provider and laid on a golden chance for Branch, who clipped wide from six yards out.

At the other end Jensen beat away Gareth Williams' top-corner-bound drive but the quality of the play was steadily sinking and Levein decided to try the direct approach with the introduction of substitute Mark de Vries just after the hour.

The home side continued to threaten on the break but, after a superb 50-yard cross-field ball by Valois picked him out, Branch failed to get a shot away under pressure from Darren Kenton.

In the 69th minute, Burnley thrust forward again, with Moore crowded out after he had flicked the ball past Walker and Oster agonisingly hitting the far post with a neat chip.

It was the Foxes' turn to play on the counter-attack and Williams shot straight at Jensen after Hughes and Connolly had sent him clear in the area before Branch contrived to head over from close range in injury-time.

Teams:

Burnley Jensen, Duff, McGreal, Cahill, Sinclair, Oster, Hyde, Whittingham, Branch, Valois, Moore.

Subs Not Used: Coyne, Pilkington, Scott, Hanley, Yates.

Booked: Sinclair, Whittingham.

Leicester Walker, Kenton, Dabizas, McCarthy, Stewart (Gillespie 45), Gemmill, Williams, Hughes, Wright (de Vries 63), Maybury, Connolly (Nalis 76).

Subs Not Used: Stearman, Hirschfeld.

Booked: Connolly, Gillespie.

Att: 10,933

Ref: A Kaye (W Yorkshire).