Matchday With The Manager – Facing Another Top Opponent In Quick Succession

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Matchday With The Manager – Facing Another Top Opponent In Quick Succession

Another huge challenge awaits Leicester City when they tackle Liverpool at King Power Stadium on Tuesday, says manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-12-28T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Facing Another Top Opponent In Quick Succession

Another huge challenge awaits Leicester City when they tackle Liverpool at King Power Stadium on Tuesday, says manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-12-28T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Facing Another Top Opponent In Quick Succession

Another huge challenge awaits Leicester City when they tackle Liverpool at King Power Stadium on Tuesday, says manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-12-28T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Facing Another Top Opponent In Quick Succession

Another huge challenge awaits Leicester City when they tackle Liverpool at King Power Stadium on Tuesday, says manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-12-28T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Facing Another Top Opponent In Quick Succession

Another huge challenge awaits Leicester City when they tackle Liverpool at King Power Stadium on Tuesday, says manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-12-28T07:00:00.000Z

Two days after taking on champions Manchester City at Etihad Stadium and six after the Carabao Cup meeting with the Reds at Anfield, one solace for the Foxes is their return to Filbert Way to once again face Jürgen Klopp's men.

It will be Liverpool's first outing since that cup fixture on Merseyside – after a Boxing Day clash with Leeds United was postponed – while Man City also had a six-day preparation period compared to Leicester's four days ahead of Sunday's match in Manchester.

City have endured harsh luck in the schedule over recent weeks, combined with multiple injury issues, mild illnesses in the squad and positive COVID-19 cases. Nevertheless, Tuesday's return to King Power Stadium represents an exciting next outing for the Foxes in front of a full house.

"It’s a huge challenge," Rodgers said after the 6-3 reverse at Etihad Stadium on Sunday. "We’ll get back and have a meal together. It’s a very, very quick turnaround and, obviously, to play Man City and Liverpool in quick succession over this period, it’s a big challenge, especially with the squads they have.

"We’ll do what we’ve done in this period. We just fight, keep working and do our very best. That’s what we’ll prepare to do on Tuesday.

"It’s a ridiculous schedule, I think we all know that. Over these last numbers of years, you see that players aren’t fully recovered 72 hours after a game. For us to be playing on a Tuesday against Liverpool, it is ridiculous. They’re a top team, one of the best teams in the world.

"They’ve got top players. The system won’t change so much, but the players probably will do (compared to Wednesday). However, we have to play the game, so there’ll be virtually no physical work. It’s just going to be recovery work and then we’ll look at some video images and prepare from there.

"In this period, clearly it is a big advantage (for Liverpool to have six days without a game). It’s just coincidental in the context of these two games that it was probably one of the first weeks that Man City have had off. They hadn’t played all week and then they were fresh and ready [to play Leicester].

"Liverpool haven’t played since our cup game so they’ll be able to bring players back in. That’s what we have to deal with. It’s a huge challenge for us, but it’s a challenge we’re up for. We’ll keep fighting and we’ll keep working."

In previous seasons, Rodgers has often used the matches scheduled for 28 December to rotate his XI between Boxing Day and New Year's Day. The Northern Irishman, though, does not believe that will be possible in light of the fitness issues in his squad.

"I don’t think we can," he explained. "In the last few seasons, we’ve been able to do that, but we certainly won’t be able to do that. Whatever the availability of the players is to give us an opportunity to get a result, some of the players may have to go again. A number of them will have to go again."

Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi were unused substitutes at Manchester City on Boxing Day – alongside several other notable absentees. The Foxes manager says both are recovering from hamstring complaints, but the 48-year-old is hopeful they could play a role on Tuesday evening.

"We couldn’t risk Vards or Wilf (at Man City)," Rodgers added. "They had hamstring issues from the game the other day, so we put them on the bench, but we knew we weren’t really going to be able to use them. There’ll be some changes but probably not like there has been over the last couple of seasons.

"It was too big a risk. They were suffering with tightness. Wilf has played a lot of football for us. He hasn’t had the chance to rest, so his hamstring is a little bit tight. Jamie couldn’t really run so much in the last half an hour (at Anfield). To put him into [Sunday's] game would have been really, really tough.

"Hopefully, they’ll be fine and recovered for Tuesday’s game."

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