Evans: Fresh & Ready

- Leicester City will benefit from a five-day break in between Premier League fixtures, says defender Jonny Evans
- The Foxes head to St. James’ Park to face Newcastle United on Sunday, following a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace earlier this week
- Evans says City’s recent move into their world-class training facility will also aid their recovery
- The Northern Ireland defender signed a new contract to 2023 with the Club this week

Back-to-back draws with Manchester United and Crystal Palace came in quick succession, but the Foxes will have had a five-day break from Premier League action by the time they face Newcastle United at St. James’ Park.

For Evans, who signed a new deal with the Football Club this week, the move into Leicester City Football Club Training Ground on Christmas Eve has come at the perfect time, as City begin to emerge from a packed fixture schedule.

When asked about having time to recover in between matches, Evans told LCFC TV: “It’s great, especially being at the new training ground, because we get to use all the facilities and make the most of that.

“I think it’ll be good for us in terms of getting everyone back fresh. We played on the 26th and the 28th and there was a lot of changes that had to be made to the team.

“It’s difficult for the lads to play the two games in three days and also you’ve got the challenge of the boys coming in who maybe haven’t got as much game time coming into the game to play.

“It’s a difficult period, but there’s a couple of days’ break now before the Newcastle game, and hopefully we can be all fresh and ready.”

The Foxes were naturally disappointed to not return from Selhurst Park with all three Premier League points on Monday, but Evans – who turns 33 on the same day City face Newcastle – believes his side can be encouraged by their efforts late on in games in recent weeks.

“I think we’ve got a good record of scoring late goals,” Evans continued. “The way we play, we’ve got a lot of speed up front and we’re a team with a lot of determination and character.

“I think that we’ve shown that over the last couple of seasons and that’s allowing us to come back in games. Obviously, the issue is we need to stop giving teams a chance to get in front, and it’s probably, from the start of this season, been a problem for us.

“Last year, it was a great start to the year and hopefully we can do that again. Obviously, after that, we come into the FA Cup schedule. We’ve got Stoke away, so they’re two games where we want to get off to a great start and that can definitely start the year well for you.”