Our fans have helped make King Power a fortress, claims Rodgers
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers has hailed the role of the club’s supporters in helping to make the King Power Stadium a formidable place for visiting teams.
The Foxes are unbeaten at home this season and have lost just one of their last 12 Premier League games in front of their own fans, winning nine and drawing two.
Rodgers’ side, who head into this weekend’s round of fixtures second in the table, host underachieving Everton today.
Ahead of the match, he said: “The record we have is down to a combination of the players and supporters.
“You have to give the supporters something to shout about. When supporters see hard work, they’re paying hard-earned money to come to games, it’s our duty to inspire them. The support has been brilliant.
“When you have that combined, you can be a real force. When you have more supporters, like we do at home, it’s fantastic.”
Everton are languishing in 17th spot in the Premier League, just two points above the bottom three, and under-pressure Blues boss Marco Silva has a growing list of injury problems ahead of the trip to Leicester. However, Rodgers is still expecting a
difficult test for his side.
“They’re not doing as well as they would like, but they’ve got a talented group of players, and maybe coming away from home there may be less pressure for them,” said the former Liverpool manager.
“We’re happy to be at home but we will expect a tough match against any Everton team.”
Silva believes his Everton players can make amends for last weekend’s defeat against Norwich by claiming a result in the East Midlands.
The 2-0 loss to the Canaries heaped more pressure on Silva ahead of a run of games against the Premier League’s top sides, starting with the Foxes. Silva said: “Last week was really important for us because, with that possible three points, we could now be two points under the fifth position. But it’s reality. We failed. We didn’t win that game.
“Now we have to react. Now will come really tough games for us.
“We have to go to do our best to win the points we lost the last game. This is the main thing for us and the only thing in our mind.
“It will be a tough one. Last season there we had a very good performance and we won the game clear. They are in very good shape with top confidence because when you achieve results in a row your confidence comes to the highest level.
“Credit to them because they are not just achieving results they are with a good dynamic, with some players in a fantastic moment. As a collective they are strong.
“But, when you are Everton, you have to respect them, but to go to play to your badge and to be confident you can achieve the result.
“Momentum is important. It’s clear they are in a better moment than us but a football match is a football match and we have to go there to challenge and to fight.”
Silva faced a hostile reaction from Toffees fans last weekend, and he added: “I will not lie, it was tough.
“Me as a manager, you are working first of all for your club, for sure to improve your players but to give some good feelings for your fans and because everything that is behind a football club is the fans. Their support is really important and, when they are not happy and they show that, of course it is not the best moment for a manager, for the players as well.
“We have to be strong, to understand the reactions and you have just one way. To work hard and to give them the performance and the result they want to see.”
Silva has injury problems to deal with and will be without Seamus Coleman, while Morgan Schneiderlin, Theo Walcott, Fabian Delph and Bernard are all major doubts.
But he praised the attitude of his players, saying: “Even with all these things, they come here since the first day of the week and are working really hard.”