Vestergaard: We Need To Be Hungry For It
- Leicester City’s next Sky Bet Championship challenge comes from Hillsborough on Wednesday
- Jannik Vestergaard looks ahead to facing Sheffield Wednesday (7:45pm GMT kick-off)
- The centre-back also assesses the weekend win over Watford and City’s season so far
- The meeting with the Owls will be broadcast live on Foxes Hub – watch with a Game Pass
Getting back on track with the 2-0 triumph over Watford at King Power Stadium on Saturday has set the tone for the beginning of a busy run of fixtures heading into the festive period. Wednesday night’s trip to Hillsborough is up next for Enzo Maresca’s table-topping Foxes, with Vestergaard in line for an eighth successive league start should he be selected in the XI.
“We had two consecutive losses, but they weren’t two bad performances and games that could have gone either way,” the Denmark international said earlier this week. “We had chances but didn’t take them so it was important to get that winning feeling back. It’s not a guarantee even though we have won a lot of games.
“Football is a game played mostly in your head and I think the gaffer says it well – we can never get used to winning. We need to be hungry for it every time we play and we were in that game (against Watford). It felt really good when we did get the win, both for this spell coming up and also to get over the losses.”
Vardy Seals Watford Victory
Jamie Vardy nets twice as Leicester City return to winning ways with a 2-0 success over Watford.
Two Jamie Vardy goals proved to be the difference against the Hornets at the weekend, with City once again demonstrating their ability to wear teams down by maintaining possession before taking advantage by striking late on in the game.
Vestergaard continued: “We all would prefer to be 3-0 up at half-time. That hasn’t happened many times, but we know that the game is long and when we play well, we demand a lot from the opposition. We’ve had the ball a lot more than them, meaning they are running after it and it’s psychological.
“We’re asking questions of the opposition when we play well. We know towards the end of the game that we will have our chances. Of course, there was a bit of tension in the Watford game but we kept going at it and we showed that we really wanted to get the three points. We were rewarded and hopefully we can continue on this path.”
The Owls, meanwhile, may be rooted to the foot of the Sky Bet Championship, earning just one league victory so far in 2023/24, but that makes the south Yorkshire club a dangerous opponent, according to Vestergaard, who will come up against a familiar face in the home dugout, Wednesday’s head coach Danny Röhl.
“I don’t think there are any easy games in football,” the defender added. “Everyone’s here for a reason and have a lot of qualities, otherwise they wouldn’t be here at all. I know their manager. I worked with him at Southampton and he has a very good football mind on him.
“It’s a team we cannot underestimate, and I expect them to be coming at us. It’s a very difficult game away from home against a very big football club. They will we want to beat us for sure.”
Maintaining seven clean sheets in the league this term, with the Dane involved in six of those shutouts, it’s a record that Vestergaard is pleased to hold, having built up a successful centre-back partnership with Wout Faes.
“It’s the basis of any win,” the 31-year-old explained. “To have a very focused defensive mind we need to prepare all the dangers that lie within having a lot of possession and mainly the counter attacks. I think we’ve become increasingly better at that.
“We still have room for improvement but that’s the beauty of it, you can still get better. As a defender, the number one thing you want when walking off the pitch is that zero. It’s very pleasing, it’s something we take pride in and something we will focus on continuing.
“The style of play he (Maresca) has implemented suits me very well. We have a lot of the ball, something that I take a lot of pride in. I’ve always identified with that. It’s a very positive style of football, one where you want to create in the game, keep the ball in play and making it as entertaining as possible.
“But it’s also one where we feel we’re in control, we determine what’s going on and he encourages me to take that control from the back and start the attacks, whether it’s taking the pace out of the game or speeding it up and I’m genuinely enjoying it.
“I enjoy playing with Wout. It feels very natural. We see football in the same way, read the game in a similar way and have a very good understanding of each other. I think he’s a very good player and I feel confident and comfortable next to him.”
A live stream of the match at Sheffield Wednesday will be available in the UK and around the world on Foxes Hub. Click HERE to get your Game Pass now!