- Leicester City showed resilience against Norwich City, says manager Brendan Rodgers
- The Foxes won 2-1 at Carrow Road to notch a first Premier League away triumph of 2021/22
- Jamie Vardy and Marc Albrighton were on target in Norfolk
The Foxes claimed their maiden away victory of the 2021/22 Premier League campaign, but had to battle for all three points in Norfolk.
It was Jamie Vardy, the scorer of his 149th City goal across all competitions, who gave Rodgers’ side the lead, however a Teemu Pukki penalty meant it was all-square at the break.
An entertaining second half followed, and while Norwich had a goal disallowed by VAR, Marc Albrighton’s well-executed finish sealed the success on 74 minutes.
“Yes, [I’m] delighted, two wins out of three, especially as we haven’t been anywhere near the standard of play that I would expect us to play,” Rodgers told LCFC TV.
“I think that will come with time and fitness over the next number of weeks. To come here and dig in and grind out the win by showing that resilience, especially in the end, is very important for any team.
“We had moments in the game where we pressed the game well and won the ball back, and it was a great finish then by Vards (Jamie Vardy).
“The second goal comes from a throw-in, so we work it well, switch the game and Marc [Albrighton] finishes it superbly.
“Then, we had other moments, but our technique, our positioning afterwards let us down, so that’s something we need to improve on because we got into some great areas where we could have been in, and just been cleaner and smoother with the pass, and that makes it easier.
“We had a moment at the end where we could have closed the game out, but yes, all these things will come. What we do have is this incredible spirit and this fight to keep going, and you need that. The players showed that today and it was a very good win for us.”
Rodgers confirmed ahead of the game that Ryan Bertrand was unavailable due to feeling unwell, while he also confirmed the extent of Ricardo Pereira’s injury. The Portugal full-back set up Vardy for the opener, but immediately withdrew after pulling up.
“He’s felt that when he made that burst and pass,” Rodgers said. “We’ll not know the extent of it until we get that scan.”
Rodgers had some special words for the Blue Army, who were able to watch the Foxes register a first Premier League win of 2021/22 on the road this weekend.
He added: “We owed them, especially after Monday night. It was important because we didn’t do ourselves justice and obviously, for them, today was a long travel for them, so they’ll go home happy.
“We’ve come to Carrow Road, won 2-1 and it’s always nice. Hopefully, that will make them happy, and it gives them a nice journey home.”