Talking Heads: Bruce, Rodgers, Fernández & Evans

First Team
01 Jan 2021
2 Minutes
As Leicester City prepare to face Newcastle United in the Premier League, LCFC.com takes a look at what key figures from both camps have had to say about the Sunday 3 January showdown.

- Hear from Steve Bruce, Brendan Rodgers, Federico Fernández and Jonny Evans ahead of this weekend’s match
- The Foxes head to Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday (2:15pm GMT kick-off)
- Bruce and Fernández each provided their thoughts on Newcastle’s stalemate with Liverpool on Wednesday

The Foxes’ maiden fixture of 2021 takes place at St. James’ Park, where they won 3-0 in 2019/20 courtesy of superb James Maddison and Hamza Choudhury efforts, and Ayoze Pérez’s opener.

Ahead of what promises to be another entertaining match, Newcastle head coach Steve Bruce and defender Federico Fernández both spoke following their clash with Liverpool, while Northern Irishmen Brendan Rodgers and Jonny Evans also preview the encounter.

Steve Bruce has been in charge of Newcastle United since the summer of 2019.

Steve Bruce discussing his side’s draw with Liverpool: “It breeds a bit of confidence when you get something off a team like Liverpool. We hope the energy levels are there and we recover because we've got another big game at the weekend in Leicester who are a very good team themselves. We needed our goalkeeper to play well and you need a bit of luck along the way but the effort, endeavour and commitment they showed got us the result.”

The Northern Irishman speaks to his players ahead of a training session in Seagrave.

Brendan Rodgers on City’s progression: “There’s still a lot of work for us to do. What we’ve always looked to try and achieve here is bring balance to the game, so if you have to play in that counter-attacking style, then you can do that. I think the best teams can do that. They can play in multiple ways. If you have to play against a team that’s sat in deep, you have the precision and the quality to play through that and get victories. But also, if you’re breaking out within the game as well, you have that speed on the counter-attack.”

The Argentine played the full 90 minutes to help Newcastle United to a 0-0 draw with Liverpool.

Federico Fernández on Newcastle’s latest outing: “We are really happy with the performance, with the character we showed today. We were very disciplined, the line between us was great and we didn’t give anything away. It’s good to see this spirit, especially what is coming for us.”

The City defender came up against his former side, Manchester United, on Boxing Day.

Jonny Evans on City’s ability to come from behind: “I think that we’ve shown that over the last couple of seasons and that’s allowing us to come back in games. Obviously, the issue is we need to stop giving teams a chance to get in front, and it’s probably, from the start of this season, been a problem for us. Last year, it was a great start to the year and hopefully we can do that again.”