Petty Looking To Make Home Advantage Count

Development Squad
21 Feb 2022
2 Minutes
Leicester City's Development Squad will continue striving to make LCFC Training Ground their fortress in Premier League 2 Division 1, says coach Ben Petty.

- Leicester City's Development Squad host Arsenal Under-23s on Monday (7pm kick-off)
- The Premier League 2 Division 1 clash at LCFC Training Ground will be broadcast live on LCFC TV
- City's youngsters have won their last three matches and drew 3-3 with Arsenal last time out
- Coach Ben Petty spoke before the encounter with the Gunners in Seagrave last week

The Foxes welcome Arsenal Under-23s to Seagrave on Monday evening – live and free on LCFC TV from 6:45pm – as they go in search of a fourth consecutive victory in the league. Their last encounter with the Gunners, though, ended in disappointment in north London.

"We certainly owe Arsenal one," Petty told LCFC TV. "We were 3-0 up away at Arsenal earlier on in the season and we let it slip to get a point. We were very disappointed after that game because we felt like we deserved the win and we didn’t quite see it out. Our game management wasn’t quite good enough.

"It’s a game we’re really looking forward to, being at home. We’ve had a good record at home. We’re trying to make Seagrave a fortress and we’re definitely going to have the players up for the game. When we had Holmes Park as a home venue, we really made that a hard place for teams to come and play.

"It was a magnificent surface and a nice compact ground and we used to get good crowds. I think that’s something we should try and recreate at Seagrave. It’s a beautiful little stadium. It’ll be nice to get some good crowds in there, like we have, and make it a really difficult place for teams to come and play.

"That’s all part of the learning and the growing for the players, to make their home pitch a difficult place for opposition players to come."

The Club's youngsters are applying themselves in a manner which pleases Petty with players committing themselves to pressing the opposition when out of possession. The coach attributes that focus to City's recent run of excellent form and says it must continue if they are to pick up further positive results.

"The team and the group as a whole have really bought into the work we’ve been doing," he added. "Our play out of possession has been much better. There’s been no doubting that we’ve got some good technical players and good attacking players, but ultimately, they have to do both sides of the game.

"I think our out of possession work and our pressing has been much better over the last couple of months. I think the players are starting to see that in their results. We need to carry that on. We’ve lost a few players to loans, which is brilliant for them as part of their development, so the team gets younger again.

"The challenge then gets cranked up and it’s going to be a really interesting last two or three months of the season."

Fans can tune into live LCFC TV coverage of the clash on LCFC.com from 6:45pm on Monday.

All times GMT.