Brendan Rodgers calls for calm and insists Leicester are ‘in a great position still’ in the top-four battle, despite their dismal Newcastle defeat and a daunting Premier League run-in to come
- Leicester were humbled 4-2 at home to Steve Bruce’s Newcastle on Friday
- The Magpies went 4-0 up by 73 minutes in a blow to Leicester’s top four hopes
- The Foxes could now slip to fourth this weekend and be two points ahead of fifth
- Brendan Rodgers insists his side are not collapsing like they did last season
Brendan Rodgers maintains Leicester are still in a good position despite throwing away a great opportunity to solidify their spot on the top-four by losing to Newcastle.
The Foxes went 4-0 down to Steve Bruce’s side by 73 minutes before attempting a mini fight-back to lose 4-2 on Friday night. Rodgers’ men missed out on the chance to go eight points clear of fifth-placed West Ham with a win and can now slip to fourth on Saturday.
Last season, Leicester won just two out of the final nine league matches of last season to slip from third to fifth and miss out on Champions League football but Rodgers cooled talk about another fall from the top of the table.
Brendan Rodgers claims Leicester are still in a good position for top-four despite a loss to Newcastle on Friday night
The Foxes conceded four times before finding the net to go down 4-2 to the Magpies
Rodgers told Sky Sports: ‘We are still in a really good position and everything is still in our hands. I have always said we have to fight for everything. We are so close to where we want to be.
‘We are in a great position still. I have always said ‘let’s see where we are after 38 games’.
‘We could have had four or five goals but if you defend like that you are going to struggle to win games.’
Rodgers’ men went 2-0 down at the break thanks to goals from Joe Willock and Paul Dummett, before Callum Wilson netted a second-half brace to seal the points.
Rodgers cooled talk of the Foxes collapsing like they did last year to finish fifth in the top-flight
Marc Albrighton and Kelechi Iheanacho pulled goals back for the Foxes but it was too little, too late for the top-four chasing side.
The Foxes will move down a place in the Premier League table should Chelsea beat Manchester City on Saturday, while victory for West Ham against Everton will close the gap between them and Leicester to just two points.
Meanwhile, Leicester face trips to Manchester United and Chelsea before the visit of Tottenham on the final day of the season in a gruelling season run-in.
Rodgers described the defeat to Steve Bruce’s side as ‘easy to analyse’ but ‘uncharacteristic’
Rodgers blamed a lack of concentration for the defeat, epitomised by Caglar Soyuncu’s mistake to give midfielder Willock an early goal at the King Power Stadium.
The Foxes manager claimed: ‘It’s very easy to analyse. It was a game in which we made so many mistakes and you can’t afford to do that.
‘It was uncharacteristic. It’s a period of the season where we need to be super concentrated, you are very close to achieving what you want to achieve.
‘We lacked concentration and if you do that against good teams and good players they punish you.’