Kelechi Iheanacho says hard work is the only way Leicester City will recover from the setback of Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat at Everton as they look to respond with a victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
– Kelechi Iheanacho calls for a swift response from Leicester City to Wednesday’s defeat by Everton
– The Nigerian found the net for City after opening efforts from Toffees pair Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurðsson
– Iheanacho admits there is work to be done on the training field after a which was was ‘difficult to take’
– Leicester next face Crystal Palace at home on Saturday in the first of a six-game final run-in
City were two goals behind after just 16 minutes at Goodison Park following an early effort from Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurðsson’s penalty, but Iheanacho – a second-half substitute – halved the arrears after the break.
It wasn’t enough for the Foxes to secure a point in Merseyside, however, and, as they look ahead to Saturday’s visit of Palace to King Power Stadium, the Nigerian admits they ‘need to do more’ in future games.
“It’s absolutely a tough one [to take],” Iheanacho told LCFC TV at full-time following Leicester’s third Premier League match since the Premier League’s resumption. “We need to do more. It’s not good enough from us.
“We just need to get back and work on training. We got a goal back and we got a couple of chances, but unfortunately, we lost.
“We need to do more and get back to winning ways. In the next game, we need to fight and get the three points.
“We did a bit more in the second half, but we need to do more if we [want] to compete. We have six games left, so we need to compete.
“We need to get our mentality right, to fight until the end.”
Iheanacho’s close-range finish in the 51st minute was his ninth goal in all competitions for the Foxes this season and he was pleased to contribute after emerging from the bench at half-time.
However, the 23-year-old says adding to his tally of goals is little consolation following a defeat and insisted that he and his team-mates are determined to secure positive results over the remaining six games of 2019/20.
Palace visit Leicester on Saturday for a 3pm kick-off before a trip to Emirates Stadium to tackle Arsenal next Tuesday (8:15pm kick-off) is followed by another away game at AFC Bournemouth on Sunday 12 July (7pm kick-off).
“Yes, it’s always good to get on the pitch to play and to help my team-mates out,” Iheanacho continued. “Everyone is important in the team, whenever you’re playing, so you need to give your best and for the team. It’s a collective effort, so you need to do your best whenever you play. [There’s] a lot of games to play.
“Every week, [we’re] playing two games, so we need to just get ready. In three days, we’ll play Crystal Palace, so we need to get ready to play again.”
This report first appeared on the Leicester City FC website.
