Leicester City lost 6-3 to Manchester City on Boxing Day and will now play Liverpool at King Power Stadium just two days later.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers described the manner of the match as absurd.
– The schedule is ridiculous. “I think we all know that,” Rodgers said during his press conference before meeting Jurgen Klopp’s staff.
The players have not fully recovered after 72 hours, so it would be stupid to play against Liverpool on Tuesday. However, we must play the game, resigned Rodgers admitted.
There will be virtually no physical training on Monday. It will just be recovery training, and then we will see some videos to prepare for the match.
The Liverpool players will undoubtedly be in good health, as the Reds’ match against Leeds on Christmas Day has been postponed due to the coronation outbreak at Leeds.
The fourth Christmas Day game will be Liverpool’s first since beating Leicester on penalties in the League Cup quarter-final before Christmas. Rodgers was asked if he thought Liverpool would benefit from not having a game for nearly a week.
– Clearly. The Leicester boss replied that it would be of great importance.
It is quite a coincidence that it has become like this. They haven’t played all week and will be healthy and fast. Liverpool have not played since the cup match against them, and they will be able to bring in other players. But we just have to deal with this. It will be a big challenge for us, but we will fight with everything we have.
Liverpool is a great team. One of the best teams in the world. Referring to the League Cup match, Rodgers said they wouldn’t change much in their system, but would use completely different players.
Leicester suffers a lot of injuries
Leicester have to play without Ryan Bertrand against Liverpool, due to the knee injury they sustained against Manchester City, and they must also check if Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi are ready to fight. Rodgers did not risk with the latter two, leaving them out of the game against City on Christmas Day Two, due to storage issues.
Leicester also suffers from injuries to Ricardo Pereira (man), Patson Dhaka (hoarding) and Caglar Soyuncu (hoarding). The match against Liverpool comes too early for Harvey Barnes, Jonny Evans, Danny Ward, James Justin and Wesley Fofana.
Leicester striker Kelechi Iheanacho, who scored in the loss to City, is still looking forward to a new meeting with Liverpool.
– We’re looking forward to the match, he says to LCFC TV.
We played against them in the League Cup recently and it was a good match, but we lost. Hopefully we can do better in the Premier League and get points from the match.
When you meet a team like Liverpool, you know how they play, and you know their players. You know their weaknesses and how to attack them. We hope to fight them.
We did well at Anfield, and we hope to do the same at King Power.
Leicester beat Liverpool 3-1 at King Power last season and are in good shape now too, having scored 10 goals in their last three games in all competitions.
After defeating them at home last season, you have the good faith that you will be able to do it again. Liverpool is a good team, so we have to be strong and finish well. we are ready. My confidence is good after I scored against City. I hope we finish the year strong at home, and get the points we need, says Iheanacho.
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