Hammond Seeking Pre-Season Fitness

The Foxes face further competitive tests against Preston North End, MK Dons, Rotherham and Werder Bremen before the campaign gets underway on 16 August, and Hammond is determined to pick up as much game time as possible. 

“Pre-season is where you get your fitness,” said Hammond. “You can train and run as much as you like, but games are what you want. We need competitive games and the more the merrier. 

“You don’t want injuries during pre-season. You want to select from everyone. We had a good trip to Thailand and there was a bit of travelling, which took a bit out of us. We came through unscathed against Walsall though, we enjoyed the game and are happy with the result. 

“Mistakes can happen in pre-season, but these are things we can iron out. We never like conceding goals, but you’re going to. We look at it as a positive, because we can look at it and work on it.” 

Foxes striker David Nugent gave Drinkwater some fierce competition for the goal of the match award with his own screamer, and Hammond admits he has been impressed by the blistering start to pre-season from the last campaign’s top scorer. 

Hammond said: “He had a fantastic season last time out and he’s carried it on. He’s a great striker, he’s got Premier League experience and wants to prove himself once again in the Premier League – he’s certainly going the right way about doing it. 

“I didn’t see Drinky’s (Danny Drinkwater’s) goal myself, but I’ve heard it was an absolute screamer. Nuge’s (David Nugent’s) was very good as well, but I can’t really say whose I prefer.”