Preview: Leicester City begin pre-season campaign at Scunthorpe

After 66 long days without a Leicester City match, the Foxes travel to Scunthorpe United, as they begin their pre-season schedule.

With an emphasis on friendlies being played exclusively in English grounds this summer, City fans will have easier, albeit less exciting, trips to make in order to see their team prepare for the upcoming season.

There will be palpable excitement at Glanford Park, as Leicester supporters will be treated to a first look at new signings, Ayoze Perez and James Justin, while casting their eye over the featured academy products, who will be keen to emulate the successes of Harvey Barnes, Ben Chilwell and Hamza Choudhury when the Premier League reconvenes next month.

Scunthorpe, who will begin their League Two campaign in August, will provide a tough test to kick start a pre-season fixture list that involves Cambridge United, Stoke City and Atalanta.

Speaking about his side’s preparation at a two-week training camp in Evian, Brendan Rodgers explained what must be done to ensure that his team is ready for the new season ahead:

"“How I tend to work is very much football fitness, which is based around multidirectional work as well as physical, so that’s very tough when you first come back.“Likewise, here and obviously with the heat added to that as well, but they’ve all pushed themselves to the limit, which is very important – for them to gain that physicality of how we want them to play.“They need to work very, very hard in training and suffer in training because it makes it that bit easier when you go into the games. They’ve coped very well.“It’s been tough for them, it’s been hard, but I think they’ve enjoyed the aspects of having the football. They’ve all really focused on their work, and it’s been really good.”Via LCFC.com"

In terms of absentees, Wilfred Ndidi and Islam Slimani, both at the African Cup of Nations, will not feature. The most interesting decision will be whether Harry Maguire plays, amidst speculation of his imminent departure for Manchester United.

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After being sidelined for the majority of the 2018/19 season, Matty James and Daniel Amartey are likely to appear in Leicester blue, both for the first time this calendar year. It will be interesting to see how these two get on after recovering from serious injuries. Leicester Mercury say Amartey is available, after some confusion over the length of his recovery.

City’s trip to Scunthorpe will kick off at 7.30pm BST.