Faes: A Very Important Period Of Games

- Wout Faes looks ahead to Leicester City’s meeting with Rotherham United
- The Yorkshire club are due at King Power Stadium on Saturday (3pm kick-off)
- The Belgian also looks back on Monday’s success at Birmingham City
- Enzo Maresca’s side are aiming to stay atop of the Sky Bet Championship

The Foxes sealed an 18th Sky Bet Championship victory on Monday night, overcoming Birmingham City 3-2 at St. Andrew’s Stadium. Enzo Maresca’s men displayed their quality in the final third but had to dig deep to hold on to the lead late on and secure maximum points.

“It was amazing, to be honest,” Faes reflected earlier this week. “These wins are the nicest because we made it a bit shaky, which was unnecessary, but to be able to celebrate with that many away fans was nice.

“That’s why we’re there, because we’re defenders and we need to defend. We showed people that we can rely on individual qualities. We can even play on the counter if necessary. But our main goal is to have the ball and be playing a certain way. I hope we can continue that.

“When you make an important block, it’s natural to celebrate because you’re in your game and so I think that should be celebrated. It’s like a goal for a defender. Even with Mads [Hermansen] and the other defenders, if he makes a crucial save, we go and celebrate with him because that’s the togetherness in the team and you need that.”

Rotherham United present City’s next test in the final home fixture of the year. Although the Millers are towards the bottom of the Championship standings, last month’s draw with Sheffield Wednesday showed that no team can be taken for granted.

And with an opportunity to potentially extend their lead at the top of the table at Christmas, there is clear motivation within the squad to end 2023 on a positive note in front of the Blue Army.

“It’s a big game at King Power Stadium with the fans,” the Belgian explained ahead of Saturday’s 3pm kick-off. “And I’m sure they will be there as usual. Hopefully we can get a win because it’s a very important period that we’re in and what’s ahead of us.

“Rotherham drew with Leeds, so it’s a tough league. Everyone can lose points to everyone or win against anyone, so I think we’ll have to be 100 per cent like always and not drop our standards. You can’t take any team for granted. We just have to do the same.”

In the midst of a busy period of fixtures, changes in personnel are expected and despite building a fearsome centre-back partnership with Jannik Vestergaard, the 25-year-old feels comfortable whoever he lines up alongside.

The defender added: “It’s been very nice. Jannik has been doing very well and we’re enjoying playing next to each other. I think you see it’s a very good partnership but for me it doesn’t matter too much who I’m playing with.

“If Conor [Coady] comes in or Soutts (Harry Souttar) comes in, they play games because I think that’s what the Manager has installed - a certain style of play which means when a guy comes into the team, he knows what to do and what to expect.

“The Manager will probably change things around in the next games because he wants to have fresh legs for every game. We have all the necessary equipment and installations here at the training centre to be able to be fully recovered, so I don’t think that will be a problem. And then afterwards it’s training, managing it and, for the games, we have to be fresh.”

All times GMT.