It's Down To Us To Perform, Says Tielemans
- Leicester City take on West Ham at London Stadium on Saturday (3pm GMT kick-off)
- Midfielder Youri Tielemans says the Foxes can approach the clash in a positive frame of mind
- The Belgium international's performances have helped City pick up five wins in eight matches
- He also picks his favourite recent goal for the Club after netting two stunners for Leicester
It's been, at times, an arduous start to 2022/23 for the Foxes, who at one point went on a six-game losing streak in the Premier League. Five wins in eight games in all competitions, though, has elevated City up to 14th in the table and secured passage into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
Tielemans' magnificent performances have been a key factor in that renaissance of fortunes, with the Belgian hitting stunners in consecutive away victories over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton. The ex-Monaco midfielder believes that recent form gives Leicester optimism this weekend.
"We go there with confidence, definitely," City's No.8 told LCFC TV. "We’ve been doing really well. We know what we have to do. We know how well we can perform, but then West Ham are a very dangerous team. Whether they have good form or not, we have to be very aware of their players.
"They have very good players, a really good team, and they can make it really difficult for us, especially at home with their fans. It’s going to be down to us to make a good performance and get the three points."
The importance of going into the World Cup break is not lost on Tielemans, who himself will be representing Belgium in Qatar, alongside Foxes team-mates Wout Faes and Timothy Castagne. Securing three points before that pause in league action will be a big positive, the 25-year-old says.
"It’s very important," he added. "We all know how we started this season. We’ve struggled a lot, had some really bad results, and then finally got a bit of momentum. We want to keep this and hopefully we can win this last game before breaking up. It’s felt so much better. It’s so different, the mood.
"Everything is positive at the moment. You find you get that bit of luck as well with a few clean sheets. Everything’s been so good and the wins have made it a lot better for us than it was at the start.
"The difference, in our body language, you can tell on the pitch we are a lot stronger, a lot better physically and mentally. Also, if we concede, we know we’re going to create chances, we’re going to try and score a goal, but before conceding, we are a very compact team.
"We always fight together and we fight for each other. The last few results have shown that we are back to the team we were. We’re back to the good standards. Hopefully we can carry on this Saturday."
Tielemans picked out his goal at Everton at his favourite strike of the two - including a similarly brilliant hit at Wolves - but also stressed that his emphasis is always on the team.
"For me, the best one is Everton, just because everything is in control," he said. "Also, the thigh just before the shot makes it really good.
"I tried to set it up for myself and it was really nice. [I knew it was going in], especially seeing the flight of the ball. You can celebrate before it’s gone in because you can see the flight of the ball and you know no one’s catching that. I’m really happy.
"For me, it’s always about the team performance, but individually I feel really good. I feel like I’m doing everything I need to do and helping the team as well to get wins and to defend to get the clean sheet. I’m very pleased with that and hopefully there’ll be one more to make it even better [before the World Cup]."