Chilwell Building Fitness & Confidence

- The left back played 90 minutes and scored a penalty in the International Champions Cup fixture at Celtic Park 

- Chilwell also found it beneficial coming up against a familiar face in Celtic’s Pat Roberts 

After playing 90 minutes in the International Champions Cup shootout win over Celtic on Saturday, Ben Chilwell says both his fitness and confidence are increasing. 

The Leicester City left back played over an hour in last week’s 2-1 victory over Oxford United, before playing 90 minutes and scoring in the penalty shootout against the Scottish champions. 

Chilwell was one of only three players to play the full game – Daniel Amartey and Danny Drinkwater the other two – and the talented 19-year-old revealed he learned a great deal from operating alongside several defensive line-ups. 

Chilwell told LCFC TV: “It’s a massive stadium and a massive football club and they’ve got some good players, but we’re a good team as well, so it was a good game. To play 90 minutes is good for my fitness and for my confidence as well. 

“Playing with different players in pre season is vital because when you come to play with them throughout the season, you’re used to it already. It’s good for the gaffer and the players to get used to trying different systems throughout pre season. 

“It’s a long way from Leicester to here, so 3,000 [Leicester City] fans is a great turn out. They were loud throughout the whole match and obviously the Celtic fans were good as well, so it was a good atmosphere.” 

Chilwell came up against fellow England youth international Pat Roberts for over an hour, and for the City left back, it was an interesting experience having played alongside him for the Young Lions. 

He added: “I thought I did well. I obviously know Pat Roberts from England and he’s the same age as me, so we both know what kind of players we are. 

“It was always going to be interesting coming up against each other to see who’d do what. It was a good test to come up against different wingers. 

“Obviously the fresh winger (James Forrest) came on in the second half and I was a little tired, but I thought I did well and it was good to get minutes in the bank.”