Rodgers confident Leicester will avoid Liverpool hangover against Man City

LONDON: Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers believes his side will recover quickly from their agonising penalty shoot-out exit from the League Cup when they face Premier League leaders Manchester City on Sunday.

The Foxes twice conceded a two-goal lead in their midweek League Cup quarter-final against Liverpool — including an equaliser deep into added time — before losing on spot-kicks.

Adding to the pain of defeat, Leicester defenders Caglar Soyuncu and Ricardo Pereira were forced off while star striker Jamie Vardy played the last 20 minutes with a tight hamstring.

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None of which augurs well for Leicester’s fixture against Premier League leaders City, even though the Foxes have won with two of their last four meetings against Pep Guardiola’s side.

“There is always disappointment but I said before the game ‘You are coming to Anfield, a great place to play, and whatever happens let’s impose our way’,” said former Liverpool manager Rodgers on Friday.

“That’s what I’ve always had from these players. They have been competitive against the best teams in the country and we saw that, we just couldn’t do enough to get over the line.”

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He added: “They (City) are playing well at the minute, so we will just have to see where we are at and then devise a plan with the players available and see what we can do.

“It doesn’t look like there are too many (City) players out, they’ve had a free week without a midweek game. They are a brilliant side with technical players, world-class players, and they are used to winning.

“We’ve done OK against them but it’s going to be a big challenge for us and we need to play with the spirit we played with against Liverpool.”

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City are on an eight-match winning run in the league and have failed to win only one of their last 11 games.

“I think you see from the game at Liverpool we can score goals, we are creative, but we have to see what we have available at the weekend and we will try to come up with a plan to get a result,” Rodgers said.

“We went there last season and got a fantastic win. You know the challenge you are up against: they will dominate the ball and are good in transition and have the confidence to play so that’s the challenge at the weekend.

“You have to play with courage, and when you have the ball you have to exploit the spaces.”