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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Adam Jones

'Wouldn't presume' - Frank Lampard rejects Leicester 'weakness' claim before Everton visit

Frank Lampard has given his honest opinion on the challenge Everton face against Leicester City this weekend - and brushed off the Foxes' perceived weakness from set-pieces.

The Blues will be looking to keep their positive attitude as high as possible when they travel to the King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon after securing a rousing 1-0 victory against Chelsea last time out. However, they are still on the hunt for their first Premier League win away from Goodison Park since August.

Many have highlighted a weakness on set-pieces that Leicester have as a way for Everton to score - but Lampard moved to dismiss how important that might be. And the Blues boss was not sure how much of an affect a midweek European match against Roma for Brendan Rodgers' side would have on their performance come Sunday.

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Lampard told his pre-match press conference: "We'll always try and focus on ourselves. Corners, set-pieces - for and against - in every game and try to have a good understanding of the opposition.

"But I wouldn't presume we'd give them a problem with that because of past history. We have to be very focused at both ends of the pitch. They can dictate the outcome of games."

Leicester were knocked out of the Europa Conference League at the semi-final stage on Thursday when Tammy Abraham headed in from a corner to earn Roma a 1-0 win on the night at the Stadio Olimpico and a 2-1 triumph on aggregate.

"It's a really tough challenge, and I'm not sure what reflection last night's game [vs Roma] has on our game," continued Lampard. "Will they be disappointed? Yes. Does that make some games more dangerous? Yes.

"Can we go and be at our best, and try and go at a time when they're in disappointment? Possibly. Those things are all up in the air.

"What you do know as a constant is that Leicester have got fantastic players and a fantastic coach, I know that first-hand from knowing Brendan really well. He'll have ideas and enough in his squad, because it's a strong squad, to put out a very good team against us.

"I've got so much respect for what Brendan has done at Leicester and the force they are as a team. We'll have to be at our best to get a result there."

Everton lined up with a back five for the majority of their match against Chelsea. Seamus Coleman moved over into central defence, which allowed Alex Iwobi to reprise his role as a right wing-back.

Lampard admitted that his setup last time out was focused on that individual game, however, and he is expecting to change his system game-by-game as the season continues.

He added: "It was certainly for that game, in a tactical sense. We had a good understanding of Chelsea, having watched their games previously, I felt it was important for us to change our system to be able to affect the game.

"Every game brings different challenges. Sometimes the feeling is to have more attacking options on the pitch or to feel you can press with more people higher up the pitch.

"It's something we have to go game-by-game on."

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