Brendan Rodgers has named the toughest opponent his Leicester City side have faced this season and rather surprisingly it’s not Liverpool or Manchester City.
The Northern Irishman’s side travelled to Stamford Bridge last night and earned a 1-1 draw against Chelsea, and despite avoiding defeat in the capital, it’s Thomas Tuchel’s side that Rodgers has claimed are the best team they’ve faced during this campaign.
“I would go as far as to say Chelsea are the best team we have played this season. When we played them early on in the season, they were at the top of their game,” Rodgers said prior to his side’s draw in London (via Manchester Evening News).
“I thought they were outstanding. Not long after that moment, they lost some players.
“I’ve said it before, even with squads like Chelsea’s you need your top players available. Over the course of the time, they have had players out, key players who make the systems function to the highest level.
“What I do know is they’ve got an outstanding manager who has done a fantastic job since he’s been there. They’ve got a group of really good players, top, top talents.”
Chelsea look set to finish the season third in the Premier League table as they currently sit three points above Spurs and have a more superior goal difference heading into the final round of fixtures on Sunday.
The Londoners have been prevented from lifting silverware by Liverpool on two separate occasions this term.
In February we defeated them in the Carabao Cup final via penalties at Wembley and last weekend defeated them in the FA Cup after once again requiring a shootout to pip them to the trophy.
They were defeated by Real Madrid in the quarter-final of the Champions League and we’ll meet the La Liga outfit in the final in Paris next Saturday.
Although the Chelsea squad is stacked with talent and they’re the current European champions, it’s rather surprising for Rodgers to not name us or City as his side’s toughest opponent this season.
We did suffer a 1-0 defeat at the King Power back in December before earning a 2-0 win over the Foxes in the return clash at Anfield in February.
As well as those two league meetings, we defeated them in the quarter-final of the League Cup on penalties after an entertaining 3-3 draw.
Chelsea did look set to mount a title charge earlier this season, but since then us and City have ran away as the two main contenders for the title.
This season’s champions will be decided on Sunday when we welcome Wolves to Anfield and Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa visit the Etihad.
If we defeat the Molineux outfit, Pep Guardiola’s side cannot afford to drop points, otherwise the title will be returning to Merseyside once again.