Wounded Foxes can strike back, maintains Rodgers
BOSS Brendan Rodgers vowed Leicester will respond after their limp Europa League exit.
The Foxes lost 2-0 to Slavia Prague to crash out of the tournament on Thursday and host Arsenal in the Premier League tomorrow.
The second-leg defeat continued Rodgers’ frustrations in the competition having now failed to reach the last-16 in five attempts.
Leicester sit third in the Premier League ahead of the Gunners’ visit and Rodgers expects his players to recover from defeat to Slavia quickly.
He said: “They won’t be (feeling sorry for themselves), it’s the environment we have created here. One of the key attributes of this group is how we respond.
“We don’t dwell on the disappointment. That has shown in our results. You have to look forward and get ready for the next game. The time Sunday comes, we will be ready and focused.
“For us, the disappointment was the game came at the wrong time for us, where the squad is at in terms of injuries. We don’t have the depth some of the others have. My players have done brilliantly.
“We have been able to get on with it, the games in the Europa League just came at the wrong time with so many key players missing. We’ll learn and hopefully next year we’ll arrive in European competition and take the next step. Let’s see if we can improve on that.”
James Maddison is likely to be out for a number of weeks with a hip problem while James Justin (knee), Ayoze Perez (knee), Wes Morgan (back), Dennis Praet (hamstring) and Wesley Fofana (hamstring) are out.
Rodgers also celebrated two years in charge of the Foxes yesterday having won 50 of his 95 of his games in charge.
He added: “(It’s been) very enjoyable. I left a great club in Celtic to come here for the challenge of looking to establish Leicester as a team who could compete for the top places. I’ve had amazing support from the players.
“It has flown by, it doesn’t feel like that but I’m really happy.”
Stamford Bridge, Tomorrow,
4.30pm