Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers says it is ‘ridiculous’ to expect his side to face his former club Liverpool just over 48 hours after taking on Manchester City.
On Boxing Day Leicester went down to a 6-3 defeat at City, whose ninth straight Premier League win moved them six points clear of Liverpool at the top.
The Reds will attempt to halve that deficit on Tuesday night when they travel to the King Power Stadium for a meeting with their former manager.
But ahead of the game, Rodgers said: “It’s a ridiculous schedule. I think we all know that.
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“Players aren’t fully recovered for 72 hours. So for us to be playing on a Tuesday against Liverpool is ridiculous. However, we have to play the game.
“There will be virtually no physical work (in training on Monday), it’s just going to be recovery work, and then we’ll look at some video images and prepare from there.”
Liverpool could be the fresher of the teams after their Boxing Day match was postponed after a number of positive COVID cases were reported in the squad of their scheduled visitors to Anfield, Leeds United.
It will be the Reds’ first game since they beat Leicester on penalties last Wednesday to progress to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
And asked whether Liverpool having more time to prepare for Tuesday’s Premier League meeting will be an advantage, Rodgers said: “Clearly, it’s a huge issue.
“And it’s just coincidental, in the context of these two games, that it’s probably one of the first weeks Man City have had off (as well)
“They haven’t been playing all week so they were fresh and ready. Liverpool haven’t played since our cup game, so they’ll be able to bring players back in.
“But that’s what we have to deal with. It’s a huge challenge for us but we’ll keep fighting.”
On the Reds, Rodgers added: “They’re a top, top team; one of the best teams in the world.
“Their system won’t change so much, but the players will do.”
