Shakespeare: An Opportunity To Progress

- Craig Shakespeare says Leicester City are eyeing nothing but progression in the Carabao Cup
- The Foxes host Liverpool at King Power Stadium in the third round on Tuesday night (7:45pm kick-off)
- Shakespeare believes both sides will make changes to their team for the clash

Jurgen Klopp’s men have lost just once in eight games in all competitions this term and have scored in all but one of their games – a heavy 5-0 defeat to Manchester City earlier this month.

With over 30,000 fans set to pack out King Power Stadium, Shakespeare wants his men to put on an entertaining show, but knows advancing in the Carabao Cup is the priority.

“I see it as a very good opportunity to get to the next round, albeit against a really difficult opponent,” Shakespeare told the media.

“It’s a home game, the fans will turn out in their numbers and we expect, as a team, to try and progress to the next round. It’s an opportunity for us to progress as a Football Club in a cup. We want to do well.

“It’s always important to try and get the performance right. We want to try and win every game.

“It’s a cup competition we want do well in. Of course, we’ve got them again on Saturday and we’re in for two tough games.”

Liverpool drew 1-1 with Burnley at Anfield on Saturday afternoon, but Shakespeare believes Klopp is likely to make a number of changes to his side on Tuesday.

He added: “It’s a very difficult one to predict. I think Jurgen [Klopp] will obviously have a look at his squad and he made a lot of changes on Saturday. They’ve got a tough run of games, us twice, so I’m sure he’ll consider changes.

“When you’re in the Champions League and Premier League, you probably see it as the most important, but we’ll wait and see.

“It’s always about putting your house in order first. It’s important that we select the right team to try and cause Liverpool problems. It’s also very important that we’re aware of our own strengths.

“We’re not sure of their team. What I would say is that they’ve got very good strength in depth and they’ve got a good crop of youngsters underneath that. Whoever they play, we need to be mindful that they have a good array of talented offensive players. 

“We need to be mindful of the whole team. We all know the strength of Liverpool and what they’re renowned for. They’re a football club that do show importance to cup competitions, but it’ll be an interesting game.”