Barnes Hails 'Massive' Forest Victory

- Leicester City secured a 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on Monday
- Harvey Barnes struck alongside James Maddison (2) and Patson Daka at King Power Stadium
- The Academy graduate was thrilled to play a role in the 'special' occasion on Filbert Way
- He hopes Leicester can now embark on a positive run of form in the Premier League

After a damaging start to the 2022/23 Premier League season, City needed a win over their local rivals to climb off the basement of the table. A James Maddison brace, either side of Barnes' superb strike, put Leicester 3-0 up before the break, while Patson Daka added a fourth later on. 

It was a vintage night for the Foxes players and the Blue Army as Brendan Rodgers' men ended a six-game losing streak. For Barnes, who grew up in Countesthorpe, south Leicestershire, it was a particularly enjoyable experience to contribute to a victory over Forest.

"For me, it was massive, and for the team as well," City's No.7 told LCFC TV. "It’s a result which has been a long time coming for us.

"It’s been a tough period of course. We’ve been desperate for that first win and to do it tonight, on such a great occasion and in that sort of fashion, it’s going to be massive for confidence now. There’s been signs in the first last few weeks that we have been playing some good football.

"We’ve still been scoring goals but mistakes have been costing us, whether that’s defensive set-pieces or whatever, but having that two weeks for the lads away on internationals and the lads here to work on certain bits, it’s been a needed little break for us.

"We’ve come back tonight with a great performance and a great result."

On his brilliant goal, which came mere minutes after Maddison's opener, Barnes added: "It was a nice goal, I caught it well and it opened up really nicely for me. The occasion definitely made it a little bit more special. Getting that second goal and that little bit of a gap was definitely important.

"It’s been a long time coming. It’s big for us and the fans. Especially after last year, the result in the cup was a hurtful one for us, the fans, the players, everyone. As a local lad, that hurt, so tonight meant a little bit more to go and put that right and we did.

"We probably couldn’t have done a better job in the end. It was a great result and three points is the most important thing."

Leicester were unrelenting in their pursuit of goals. Although Taiwo Awoniyi hit the post for Forest early on, City were dominant throughout and, after surviving that scare, they fully took control of the contest. That assuredness, Barnes believes, is why they emerged with all three Premier League points.

"We started the game well, we knew we had to," he added. "On this sort of occasion, you have to start the game well and get on top and we did that well. They obviously had a chance in the first half where they hit the post and we’ve got away with that, but apart from that, we were in control for the first half.

"After that first goal went in, there’s a little bit of relief and then the second and third goes in and you calm down a little bit… not too much, but you can settle in the game and go and play your stuff and I felt we did that.

"You need to build on it, you can’t settle on being 1-0 up. That’s not how football works. If you do that, you’re going to concede chances and concede goals. We’ve been subject to that this year, we’ve done that.

"For us to go and push on and get a second and third goal was important and, in the second half, I think the game settled down a bit. We weren’t quite getting the chances we were [beforehand] but then Patson scored a great goal and settle it for us really.

"We were comfortable after that and they didn’t have too many chances in the second half the clean sheet tonight was probably as enjoyable as the four goals. It was massive for us and I know Wardy (Danny Ward) and the whole team will be buzzing with that."

Barnes hopes this win over Forest can be a 'building block' for Leicester - who have ambitions far loftier than their current league position would suggest.

He said: "For us, we’ve got a good run of games coming up where, if we can hit the levels we did tonight and take that into the next four or five games, there’s definitely results for us there. It’s a building block for us tonight. We can’t get ahead of ourselves.

"We’re still in a position where we need to go and get results, but it’s definitely a start. For us, it’ll give us that big confidence now."