Evans Enjoying Facing Different Styles In Pre-Season
- Leicester City tackle Hull City in a friendly at MKM Stadium on Wednesday (7:45pm kick-off)
- Jonny Evans spoke to LCFC TV this week to preview that clash with the Tigers
- The former Manchester United centre-back is looking forward to the test in East Yorkshire
- Fans can tune into live coverage of the match from 7:15pm on LCFC.com and YouTube
Leicester City's third pre-season friendly of the summer – after tackling Notts County and OH Leuven so far – takes them to East Yorkshire to face Shota Arveladze's Tigers. Away from those two friendly fixtures, the Foxes have also spent a week training Évian-les-Bains in France.
Evans, who made his maiden appearance of pre-season in that 3-3 draw with OHL, says he's happy with Leicester's preparations so far. Their ninth consecutive Premier League campaign begins against Brentford at King Power Stadium on Sunday 7 August (2pm kick-off).
Reflecting first on Évian, the centre-back told LCFC TV: "It was a great week, a good chance to get everyone together and get the training in. That’s the purpose of it, to get everyone connecting again and we had a little game at the end after flying from Évian to play in that match against Leuven.
"We worked hard. Most of the days we were there were double sessions and, in the evenings, we were doing workshops around stuff off the pitch and the mental side of the game. It was pretty full-on. We obviously had a day where we had a little excursion up Mont Blanc which was really nice.
"It was an incredible experience to be a part of and it turned out to be a great week."
On City's trip to Belgium, to tackle OHL, he added: "It’s always going to take a wee bit of time to everyone to get back into the match rhythm. That’s why these games are organised and we started a bit slow. The whole team, it just took us a while to get into the swing of things.
"Leuven were a few weeks ahead of us and I think you could probably see that in the game. Once we settled into it, you could tell we were much better.
"I’ve been around for quite a long time now, I’ve got a few pre-seasons under my belt, and I think you learn through the years to take the games, be calm in them and get from them what you can. It is about getting your sharpness back and your fitness."
It's Hull next up for Leicester and Evans, a former Premier League title winner at Manchester United, is hoping the Tigers – who finished 19th in the Championship – will provide another stern test. The Football League season starts before the Premier League, so Hull are deeper into their pre-season.
"We don’t know what to expect from Hull, but I’m sure it’ll be a really competitive match and it’s good to have that blend going through pre-season," Evans explained. "We’ve got to face different styles. We’re going from playing against a Belgian team to coming back and facing an English team.
"Leuven were very good, with some great patterns of play, and they caused us trouble at times. They were a very technical team. It’ll be a different style of play and it’s another chance for us to get those minutes under our belts. A couple of days later, then we’ve got another game coming after it.
"I was just speaking to my brother (Corry Evans) yesterday, he’s up at Sunderland, and they were in quite a while before us and they’re well into their pre-season now. We’re just at the start of ours.
"The difference that makes is huge to fitness and sharpness, to bridge the gap in games, so that’s why [Football League] sides will be a good test for us."
All times BST.