Rodgers’ delight after Foxes end their losing run
Brendan Rodgers was relieved to see Leicester halt their rotten run of defeats after Harvey Barnes snatched a point in a 1-1 draw at Brentford.
The Foxes were staring at a sixth straight loss in all competitions, a run which has seen them slide towards the relegation zone, when Mathias Jensen fired Brentford ahead.
But Barnes showed the Bees’ defence a clean pair of heels as he raced on to James Maddison’s through-ball to score a fine second-half equaliser.
“It breaks the cycle of results we were on and I think we deserved it,” said Rodgers.
“In the second half we looked like the team who would go on and win it. I’m very pleased with the spirit.
“We had to defend a lot of set-pieces and we did very well. Harry Souttar got his head to everything. We got a very good goal and looked like we could go on to win the game.”
Barnes’ strike denied Brentford boss Thomas Frank a 100th win in charge, but they at least stretched their unbeaten run at home to 10.
“It was a fair result for both sides,” said Frank. “I felt we came out with good energy and got a well deserved lead, but in the second half unfortunately we couldn’t keep it up.
“We were very aware we had to close down Maddison and Barnes and they produced a brilliant goal, top quality from both of them.”
Unai Emery has switched his objective from survival to securing a top-10 finish after Aston Villa’s 3-0 win against Bournemouth.
Douglas Luiz, Jacob Ramsey and Emiliano Buendia all scored as mid-table Villa moved on to 38 points with 11 matches remaining.
They were only a point above the drop zone when boss Emery officially started work as Steven Gerrard’s successor in November.
But after three wins in their last four games, they are now 14 points clear and part of the battle for Europe.
Emery said: “Of course, today I am happy – first, with one thing, (which) is today maybe we can feel we are completely safe from the bottom teams.
“When I arrived here, of course, we were struggling more than we are now, at the bottom.
“And of course, we can add a new step, an objective, looking at the teams in the top 10 now. But they have an advantage over us, and we have to fight, starting behind them.”
Gary O’Neil’s Cherries slipped a place to 19th, a point adrift of safety, having failed to further boost their survival bid after the surprise 1-0 win over Liverpool last weekend.
O’Neil said: “I don’t think we were well beaten. I think the last 10 minutes got a bit scrappy when we opened it up.
“We started too slowly, gave Villa a little lift at the beginning, lost some individual duels that isn’t like us.”