London—Brendan Rodgers has insisted Leicester’s recent loss to Premier League champions Manchester City was just a “bump in the road” as they prepare for the visit of leaders Liverpool.
Second-placed Leicester are 10 points adrift of Liverpool following a 3-1 defeat by City—their first loss since October.
Liverpool, bidding for their first English title in 30 years, have yet to lose in the Premier League this season and will kick-off on the back of victory in the Club World Cup final.
Leicester, however, pushed Liverpool all the way before going 2-1 at Anfield thanks to James Milner’s disputed late penalty and then went on to win their next eight games.
“We have a fantastic resilience and we’ve shown that in a number of months but when you lose a game it’s always difficult,” said Leicester manager Rodgers.
“It’s my job as the leader to ensure it doesn’t get the players too down. We’re a humble group, we want to be better and we understand part of that development is you are going to lose games.”
The former Liverpool boss added: “That’ll happen, it’s a case of reflecting on it. We always believe in the process but when there’s a bump in the road we never get too down about it.
“We’re thinking about bringing a performance to the game which can get us three points.
“Our objectives are very much the same, we want to continue developing as a team and we still have a lot more to do to get to the level we want to be.”
Meanwhile Rodgers played down suggestions Liverpool would be tired as a result of travelling back from Qatar, where they beat Flamengo 1-0 on Saturday to win a first Club World Cup title.
“It is a fantastic achievement, it’s a great status to have so very well done to them,” said the Foxes boss.
“We’re at home, we want to bring our true game—we know it’s going to be difficult but it’ll be a great test for us.
“They will come back on a high and will continue with the work they’ve shown in the last couple of years.”