Rodgers predicts a dramatic finale
‘EXPECT MORE SHOCK RESULTS IN BATTLE FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE’
THE final few lengths of the race for the Champions League will be dramatic, Brendan Rodgers is predicting, with more surprise results in store over the final fortnight of the season.
Leicester City were given a lifeline on Monday night when Manchester United conceded an injury-time equaliser against Southampton.
The 2-2 draw kept City in the top four on goal difference, and with their Champions League destiny still in their hands.
With City losing at Bournemouth and Chelsea beaten at Sheffield United, all three of the main contenders for the final two Champions League spots fluffed their lines.
And Rodgers, right, is expecting more eye-opening results in the final three rounds of games.
“You saw the results over the weekend with Chelsea losing, and with Manchester United being pegged back late on, and us missing out, I think there’ll be other results that will surprise between now and the end of the season,” Rodgers said at his press conference yesterday.
“With three games to go, despite everything that’s happened, we’re in a first-class position.
“We want to maximise that and play our game. If we can do that with the right intensity and right focus, we’ll have a fantastic chance.
“They are three tough games (against Sheffield United, Tottenham and Manchester United) but they are three tough games for the opposition we’re playing as well. We can’t be derailed by the defeat the other day.
“If Man City can lose as many games as they have, then surely we can do that as well. We know that after a defeat, we analyse it and aim to be better in the next game.”
Rodgers was speaking for the first time since Manchester City’s Uefa ban was overturned, meaning fifth place no longer provides Champions League football.
The decision is not of concern to the Leicester boss.
“I think what you’ll find media-wise that there was a lot said and written about it but I think football managers and players would have just been concentrating on finishing as high as they possibly could,” he added. “You can only really count on yourselves.
“For us, we’ve got three games to go, and what an incredible position that we’re in, among the super clubs, to try to achieve the top four. We’re very much there on merit.
“There will still be twists and turns. If we’d have won at Bournemouth, it wouldn’t have mattered, we would have had to have won the next game, so that’s our focus.”