Hammond: Take Our Chances

But the Foxes are unbeaten on their travels since December 2013, and with a battling performance against Everton on the opening weekend adding to their confidence, midfielder Dean Hammond insists that they will show no fear. 

Hammond himself made his Premier League debut in that game – coming off the bench as a first half substitute as the Foxes twice came from behind to secure a well deserved 2-2 draw. 

“It’s different from last season because we were favourites going into every game,” Hammond told LCFC.com. 

“We’ll go there with a game plan and a mindset to achieve what we want to achieve. It’s going to be difficult, everyone knows that. Chelsea play good, attacking football and we’ll have to deal with spells of not having the ball ourselves but we’ll get opportunities. 

“At this level that is the difference – you have to take those chances. 

“We’re playing against Chelsea, who are probably the favourites to win the title, and they’re probably not going to be around where we are going to be during the season, so maybe from that perspective it is a bonus game. 

“We have to be positive in every game we play. They’ve got world class players and a world class team and will be favourites. We go there with confidence though and ready to prove ourselves. 

“It’s going to be a test and that’s what you want, you want to be playing against the best players to see how good you are yourself.” 

Hammond won plenty of plaudits for his opening day performance against Everton, and with Danny Drinkwater and Matty James set to miss the trip to Chelsea, the former Southampton man could well be called upon again. 

He added: “I obviously enjoyed it (his Premier League debut). It’s what I’ve been working towards and what everyone has been working towards. You want to achieve that and test yourself against the best. Everton are a good side, we got a good result and I really enjoyed the occasion. 

“I’ve not seen the reviews myself, but I’ve heard about them and it’s nice. It’s always nice to get a bit of positive feedback, but it’s only one game and it’s a team game. 

“It was a great performance from the team and we scored two good goals against a top five team. It was a good Premier League experience and debut for myself. 

“It’s unfortunate for Drinky (Danny Drinkwater). I felt sorry for him because he had such a massive part in us coming up last season, and he’s had a good pre-season as well. 

“It’s just one of those things though and you come on and try to adapt to the game as best you can. I think having a few minutes before half time maybe helped me settle down and get into the second half as quickly as I could. 

“I think that performance shows a lot about us as a team - that we can come from behind. That’s probably going to happen this year. We did it twice on Saturday against a really good team and there’s no reason why we can’t do it in any other game when it crops up.”