- Leicester City signed off ahead of the break with a 2-0 win at West Ham United
- James Maddison and Harvey Barnes netted for the Foxes at London Stadium
- Manager Brendan Rodgers was thrilled with the 'grit' of his side's performance
- He also confirmed Maddison's substitution was precautionary
City have won four of their last five Premier League games, shooting up the table from bottom to 12th, ahead of the FIFA World Cup break. Goals from James Maddison - who will be in Qatar with England this winter - and Academy graduate Harvey Barnes were enough for the Foxes, who also sealed a sixth clean sheet in eight league outings.
Speaking after a throughly impressive result at London Stadium, Rodgers told LCFC TV: "It’s a very good result for us. It’s different to the Everton game (also a 2-0 away win), where some of our football was exceptional in that game.
"I thought today we gave the ball away probably a little too much, but the moments we did have it, we looked a real threat.
"We scored two very good goals. [Youri Tielemans] obviously missed the penalty which would have made it more comfortable, but we have a resilience and organisation now within the team which means that, when we’re under pressure, we look really solid. It’s a very, very pleasing result.
"We got off to a really good start. We showed patience with the ball, got into some areas. That was very good. We obviously also scored an excellent first goal. It became a little bit broken. You expect a bit of pressure when you’re away from home in the Premier League in front of 60-odd thousand.
"West Ham are going to come after you. We were very solid in that second half but also a threat. When we could break through, it was an outstanding second goal."
As City break up for the World Cup, the Blue Army can look upwards in the table, after a start which included six consecutive league defeats. The work-rate and quality it has taken to repair that situation has particularly impressed Rodgers.
"We knew [the break] was going to be there," Rodgers added. "I’m happy that we’ve picked up our form and the mentality of the team and the performance level and results. It’s something that was important. We wanted to get to the break in this position, ideally, from where we were at the bottom of the table.
"The players have shown incredible mentality and grit and resilience. They can go away a lot happier with where we are and look to push on starting with Newcastle (at home on Boxing Day).
"I’m just going to really enjoy watching [the World Cup]. It’s obviously been difficult, my concentration has been fully on trying to get us up the table. Now we can focus on hopefully what will be a great tournament and I’m looking forward to seeing our boys play in it."
Maddison, meanwhile, had to leave the pitch early on in the capital, but Rodgers confirmed his substitution was precautionary. The Foxes midfielder is in Gareth Southgate's 26-man squad for the World Cup.
"It was nothing," the Foxes manager explained. "He’d felt it in the week. After the Everton game, he hasn’t trained so much this week. He had some lighter days on Thursday and Friday. He wanted to give it a go but he just felt, when he was looking to extend and sprint, there was just a bit of soreness there.
"We didn’t want to risk anything for him and we took him off."