Confidence In The Group, Says McSweeney

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Confidence In The Group, Says McSweeney

Leon McSweeney felt it was ‘a real dominant display’ from our Under-21s to come away from Arsenal with a 5-1 victory.

2026-03-17T15:00+00:00

by Sam Jones

Published

17 Mar, 2026

Confidence In The Group, Says McSweeney

Leon McSweeney felt it was ‘a real dominant display’ from our Under-21s to come away from Arsenal with a 5-1 victory.

Sam Jones

2026-03-17T15:00+00:00

Confidence In The Group, Says McSweeney

Leon McSweeney felt it was ‘a real dominant display’ from our Under-21s to come away from Arsenal with a 5-1 victory.

Sam Jones

2026-03-17T15:00+00:00

Confidence In The Group, Says McSweeney

Leon McSweeney felt it was ‘a real dominant display’ from our Under-21s to come away from Arsenal with a 5-1 victory.

Sam Jones

2026-03-17T15:00+00:00

Confidence In The Group, Says McSweeney

Leon McSweeney felt it was ‘a real dominant display’ from our Under-21s to come away from Arsenal with a 5-1 victory.

Sam Jones

2026-03-17T15:00+00:00

Leicester City’s Development Squad beat Arsenal 5-1 in Premier League 2 last time out
Logan Briggs netted twice at Mangata Pay Stadium as City rose to eighth in the table
Coach Leon McSweeney was pleased with what he saw from the youngsters
Aston Villa are up next on Friday in our final home fixture of the regular season

The young Foxes raced into a three-goal lead at Mangata Pay Stadium courtesy of Kirsten Otchere’s strike and a brace from Logan Briggs, with Riley Carr and Amani Richards adding second-half goals to complete the rout.

Exactly what McSweeney was looking for after coming back from two goals down to draw with Newcastle United earlier in the week, he was impressed with the performance level in north London, aiming to end the season with more of the same.

“The whole performance was everything we asked,” he commented on Friday night’s triumph. “I think we just dominated from the first whistle, which was what we wanted after the Newcastle game. I thought [in the] second half against Newcastle we were just relentless in how we attacked and how we asked questions of Newcastle.

“And we probably should have gone on to win it having conceded the two goals and we just wanted the guys to take that into Arsenal, but to do it from the first whistle, Arsenal couldn't cope with anything we offered.

“The quality on the ball, the pressing, the running without the ball, just in every aspect of the game, it was a real dominant display. We scored the three goals in the first half, but it could have been four or five.

“Then it was getting the job done and seeing out the game. I think [in] the second half, obviously they were going to have a bit of a reaction with how dominant we were first half and I think we just kept performance levels up.

“I thought everyone, to a man, including the subs that came off the bench, really impacted the game and probably showed the best version of themselves for 90 minutes.

“To do it in that manner as well against Arsenal, it just breeds confidence in the group.”

Well placed to qualify for the end of season play-offs, the Foxes currently sit eighth in Premier League 2, with Aston Villa up next at LCFC Training Ground on Friday (7pm GMT kick-off), another opportunity to put points on the board and maintain current momentum.

“We always say to them about getting the performance levels consistent and then the results will look after themselves,” the 43-year-old explained.

“Sometimes we take a step forward and two steps back at times, probably too often this season, but it just gives a real springboard now with that performance and the result to hopefully galvanise the group to what they can achieve, which bodes well for the latter part of the season and hopefully an attack on the play-offs.

“It's always nice to finish with a home game, on a high, so we'll be hopefully taking the confidence. Obviously, our job as a coaching staff will be to guard against complacency, which is often the case after a good performance, and just keep the lads’ feet on the ground.

“But in terms of how they'll approach the Villa game, it will be no different to Arsenal. It'll just be, ‘let's get after them from the start and show our quality on the ball and our ruthlessness in attacking. Let’s see if they can cope with it’.

“And what we say as a coaching staff is you'll find if it's one to 11 that are on it, not many teams will cope with you when you perform like they did against Arsenal.”

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