Rodgers: A Very Important Victory For Us

- Leicester City sealed a 2-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor on Tuesday evening
- James Maddison and Jamie Vardy struck late to secure all three Premier League points
- Manager Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the application of his players in Lancashire
- He also tipped his cap to the attacking quality of City's two goalscorers on the night

The Foxes stood tall against an in-form Clarets outfit at Turf Moor – a notoriously difficult away environment – to emerge as Premier League winners for the first time in 2022, courtesy of late strikes from second-half substitutes James Maddison and Jamie Vardy.

For Maddison, it's now three goals in two games, following his brace at Randers in the UEFA Europa Conference League, while Vardy marked his return from a hamstring injury lay-off with a goal after just 18 minutes on the field of play. Rodgers cut a satisfied figure during his post-match debrief. 

"It was a very important victory for us," the Northern Irishman told LCFC TV at full-time in Lancashire. "It’s always a challenge here, when you come, physically and mentally, but the players came through it really well and I’m delighted for them.

"[Nick Pope] made some great saves. I thought we started the game very well. We opened the pitch up on the sides, where the space was, and looked threatening. We started to give the ball away midway through the second half and that just invited a little bit of pressure.

"In fairness to the players, they defended it really well. They were strong and aggressive and if anything came into the box, we dealt well with it. In the second half, we were able to sustain our attacks a little bit more and looked really threatening."

City upped the ante in the latter stages in Burnley and were rewarded for their earlier defensive play with attacking quality shining through at the end. 

"Pope made one amazing save, it looked like it was going into the top corner from Barnesy (Harvey Barnes), but we kept going," Rodgers added. "We kept persisting and James and Jamie made the difference when they came on for the last 20 minutes. Both boys came in and added that quality and dynamism to the team.

"They found the space well. James’ was a great goal. He’s got to really work the ball and, against Pope, who’s a tall goalkeeper, you’ve really got to find the corners on your shots and he did that.

"It was a great finish and Barnesy produces a really good piece of skill to beat the full-back, get his cross in, and Vards is there. All in all, a very, very good performance. There are things we can be better at, of course, but as I said, we didn’t give the ball away too many times.

"To come here, on the back of the form they’ve been on, it’s a really good victory for us."

Ricardo Pereira, on the other hand, was withdrawn at half-time and Rodgers confirmed: "It was a slight issue with his hamstring, so we’ll just have to see that tomorrow."