Brendan Rodgers has lay down the mantle for Leicester City's push for European football. The Foxes are 11 points adrift of the Premier League's European places but have three games in hand on West Ham United, and arguably a kinder fixture list.
City are still in the Europa Conference League and are set to face PSV later this week. The Foxes need three wins to ensure Europa League qualification next season by winning the competition, or hope Crystal Palace are knocked out of the FA Cup - if the Eagles were to win the competition then seventh placed in the Premier League would not qualify for Europe.
Leicester are the bookmakers joint-favourites to win the Europa Conference League, alongside Jose Mourinho's AS Roma. Rodgers is likely to field a full strength side to face PSV, with just three days between facing the Red and Whites and their trip to St. James' park.
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City moved up to ninth with a 2-1 win over Palace and knows his side cannot afford to take their foot off the gas when they face Newcastle next Sunday. The fact the Foxes are still fighting in the Europa Conference League could work in the Magpies favour, with that seemingly their best route back into European football next year.
Leicester are without Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi through injury and will be wary of additional injuries in midweek. If they are dumped out of Europe later this week, there will be no need for Rodgers to rotate his squad to rest players against Newcastle.
When asked if his side could go on a late charge for the European places, Rodgers told LeicesterLive : “I’ve just said that we can’t stop until the last whistle goes. This has been really unfortunate and a real challenge for us this season without our top players, but now they’re coming back, and because they are back, it means I can rest some, and then I can put in a fresh team.
"We made seven changes, but the players were all contributing and performing. It’s going to be a big challenge for us because we’re playing right the way through until the end of the season, but we’re going to fight to the very end, and let’s see where it takes us. It’s a great three points today, a really good performance, and now we’ll get the plan ready for Thursday, and just keep going.”
City have won four of their last six Premier League outings and are one of the in-form sides in the division. Eddie Howe knows a win over the Foxes would all but guarantee their survival.
