Leicester City want European Football, says Ben Chilwell
Leicester City are not going to sit back and be satisfied with what they have achieved so far this season, says Ben Chilwell.
The Foxes currently sit – and quite comfortably – at the eight position in the Premier League table with eight games still to play.
Although Claude Puel’s men had set their sights on the FA Cup, an agonising 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in the quarter-final means that finishing as high as possible in the league to qualify for the UEFA Europa League is their only objective now.
Shall Leicester City manage to finish at seventh, they could make it to Europe if the FA Cup winners have already qualified, a scenario that looks very likely. No wonder Ben Chilwell and his teammates want that seventh position.
"“We are comfortable in the league in terms of not being threatened by relegation but obviously we have goals in the league, which is to finish seventh and try to get into the Europa League,” he said.“It is a massive target for us this season and something we have spoken a lot about as a team.“It is definitely an aim and we are not relaxing because we are safe in the league. We want to finish seventh and get European football next season.“It is definitely something we are setting sights on and it would be exciting to play in the Europa League next season.“It would be massive for the club and the players. There are a lot of matches playing at different places and against good opposition in different countries.“For the young boys it would be a great learning curve and good experience to play against teams from abroad.”"
The seventh position is well within Leicester City’s reach, though it’d also depend on what Burnley do in their remaining games. The two have quite similar run-ins, with each team facing only a couple of sides from the current top six.
While Leicester City face North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, Burnley face London foes Arsenal and Chelsea in a run that is otherwise an easy one on paper – as is City’s.
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Claude Puel’s side, however, must overcome their usual tendency to mess it up against far weaker sides if they are to stand a chance of making it to the Europa League.
We’ve seen them drop points against Swansea City, Everton, Stoke City and AFC Bournemouth in the space of a month, and that’s something they can’t afford anymore.