Petty: An Opportunity To Showcase On The Big Stage

- Leicester City’s Under-23s face Derby County at King Power Stadium on Friday (1pm kick-off)
- The Foxes are back on Filbert Way on Monday against Blackburn Rovers (7pm kick-off)
- Coach Ben Petty outlines the importance of both Premier League 2 fixtures in their season
- Live and free coverage will be available on LCFC TV, while tickets remain on sale HERE

City head into a King Power Stadium double-header over the Easter weekend, which starts by hosting Midlands rivals Derby County this Friday afternoon (1pm kick-off), before welcoming Blackburn Rovers to King Power Stadium on Monday evening (7pm kick-off).

The young Foxes’ previous fixture on Filbert Way, against Leeds United, ended in victory, as did their last home outing at LCFC Training Ground earlier this month, beating Manchester United 3-2.

Speaking to LCFC.com in the lead up to the game, Petty commented: “We’ve tried to rejuvenate the squad a little bit and give them a bit of recovery time after the Man Utd game. We’ve had some good training though and a good four day lead up into the game.

“We’ve got two massive games over the Easter weekend so we’re just trying to monitor what the lads are doing to make sure they can give everything on Friday and Monday. I think there’ll be natural anxiety running around with the crowd there.

“Playing at King Power Stadium, it might sap the energy a little bit but ultimately, it’s about the amount of work that the lads can do in the two or three days. It’s a big load. If we come through unscathed on Friday and the team play well, then you’d expect the same sort of team to field on Monday, so it’s a big few days for the lads.”

Picking up 31 points from 22 games over the course of the PL2 campaign to date, they remain in the hunt for a top four finish, but came away disappointed the last time they met the Rams in March, held to a goalless draw against the division’s bottom side.

City’s coach said: “We’ve talked about that as a group. We felt we didn’t do enough to win that game. We were a little bit flat. We defended well but didn’t feel as though we were good enough with the ball so we’re expecting a real challenge on Friday.

“Derby are still fighting for their lives and they need every point they can get and obviously we’re looking to accumulate as many points as we can as well.

“We’ve set a points target as a group and we’re not there yet. Three home games out of four gives us a real opportunity to hit the target that we want and an opportunity for the lads to showcase themselves at King Power Stadium over three days.

“Then against Liverpool and a game at Selhurst Park, so the lads have lots to look forward to and it’s going to be an interesting few weeks.”

Several Under-18s players have been called up to the Development Squad during the season and are now looking to follow in the footsteps of other youngsters who have cemented their place in the Under-23s, including forward Chris Popov who made his PL2 debut against the Red Devils.

“It’s a brilliant problem to have,” the 45-year-old continued. “Chris Popov came in for the last game, Kian Pennant is now fit, there’s real competition for places and an opportunity to put a foot in the team for next season as well, not only this season.

“We’ve got a very young squad, Sammy [Braybrooke], Ben [Nelson] and Will [Alves] have played pretty much the whole season as scholars and if we can finish this season strong then it will be exciting times for next season hopefully.”

All times BST.