Brendan Rodgers credits ‘new energy’ of January signings for Leicester revival

Brendan Rodgers has praised the “balance” of his team after Leicester secured back-to-back wins in their recent Premier League outings.

The Foxes picked up a draw against Brighton before going on to score eight goals in their last two Premier League games, beating Aston Villa 4-2 and Tottenham 4-1.

Seven points from those matches saw Leicester up to 13th in the table and manager Rodgers believes an injection of “new energy” from their January arrivals – defenders Victor Kristiansen and Harry Souttar and Brazilian winger Tete – has helped the team.

He told a press conference: “We won’t score four in every single game but the balance of the team is good, players play in the positions that I want them to play in and we have an aggression, leadership from behind.

“Victor and Harry coming in, they’ve showed their qualities in this early stage and having natural width on the wing, (players who) can play in one-v-one situations and secure the ball for you, it means you can attack with better balance.

“That along with the confidence of the players and the work they’ve been putting in, they’ve been working hard all year but I always said the team needed the freshness and needed new energy and the three players have come in and given that.

“It’s also helped everyone else because they’ve then upped their levels. So it’s not rocket science but the players are doing extremely well, working very hard and have been getting the rewards in the last three or four weeks.”

Leicester face a difficult task against in-form Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Erik ten Hag’s side are third in the table having beaten Leeds 2-0 on Sunday and played out an entertaining 2-2 draw against Barcelona on Thursday in the Europa League.

United are also vying to secure their first piece of silverware since 2017 in the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle at the end of the month and Rodgers has been impressed with their performances this season.

He said: “I look at Manchester United and I see the introduction firstly of new players coming in, (Christian) Eriksen, (Lisandro) Martinez, really outstanding players.

“In Casemiro they’ve got a real world-class player who’s that comforting player for them that’s got experience, he’s always calm, the quality of his game and how he plays is at a high level – but thankfully for us he’s not playing, he’s suspended.

“Then they have a collective group of outstanding players, they’ve done really, really well, they’re up there competing and played a good game (against Barcelona).

“I think their record at home shows they’re a difficult team to play against.”

Youri Tielemans and Boubakary Soumare are in contention for the Foxes after both training this week but former United defender Jonny Evans is still sidelined with a thigh problem.