Leicester City are not planning to win the Premier League title this season. The club’s coach, Brendan Rodgers, has made it clear that the club’s target is to qualify for UEFA Champions League football.
Leicester City have been one of the major title contenders since the commencement of the 2020-2021 season. The club has had a feel of the first spot a couple of weekends and now 4 points away from first-placed Liverpool.
Though Leicester City have shown great consistency so far this season by winning 9 league games, drawing two games, and suffering 5 defeats, the club’s coach, Brendan Rodgers believes that his players are not ripe enough to contend for the title this season.
Recall that Leicester City stunned the world of football during the 2015-2016 season by going all the way to win the Premier League title for the first time in the club’s history. Since then, they have not been able to come so close. They didn’t even finish in the top four as the defending champions in the 2016-2017 season.
Hence, the best Leicester City have gotten since their historic Premier League title triumph in 2016 has been a Europa League qualification which the club wants to graduate from.
When the issue of contending for the league title was raised ahead of the Leicester City league match against Newcastle United scheduled for Sunday, at 15:15, Brendan Rodgers removed his club from the list of title-contending clubs.
The 47-year-old tactician stressed that clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool have the experienced players to win the title, adding that Leicester are yet to get to the level of the first and second-placed Liverpool and Manchester City.
“Our targets won’t change,” said Rodgers during a press conference ahead of Newcastle vs Leicester league match.
“For me, I am always honest and our thinking is if we can have European football again next season at this stage of the team’s development, that would be a great success for us.
“With all due respect… Manchester City and Liverpool, these are fantastic teams full of experienced players who have been building for several years, so we are not at that level.
“That is my assessment of it but we are building something to be as competitive as we can be without the finances that allow those teams to get to that level.
“We will continue on that journey and our ambition is there and the spirit is there. With the players, there is continued development.
“For us to be in that position another year down the line shows that consistency is starting to improve. That is something that pleases me but my ambition is always to be the best that we can be.”
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A win away at St James’ Park on Sunday will keep Leicester a point closer to the top two clubs on the league table. While a defeat could take Brendan Rodgers and his boys down to the 5th spot if 5th placed Chelsea which have a superior goal difference defeat Manchester City on Sunday.
