Brendan Rodgers senses the opportunity to make it a historic season

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers is sensing the opportunity to make it a historic season with a return to the UEFA Champions League.

The Foxes sit third in the Premier League with 50 points and ten games to go.

They have an eight-point advantage over Manchester United, who, in fifth, currently hold the last UCL spot because of Manchester City’s European ban.

Despite Leicester’s drop in form, they remain in an excellent position to qualify for the Champions League and that’s one prospect that quite excites Rodgers.

However, he knows that his side cannot afford to take anything for granted and that they have got to keep working hard in order to make the season truly historic.

"“We have an opportunity now with 10 games to go to make it a historical season,” he said.“If we can qualify into the Champions League for only the second time in the club’s history, you think of the great players and the work that has gone on over many years here to be able to do that, it would be incredible.“But it’s going to take a lot of hard work still, a lot of focus. But our aim was to have European football and we’re in a great position to do that with just 10 games left.“We are looking at least to win half of them, maybe more. That’s our focus. It’s something we are ready to embrace, we’ve put ourselves into great position, what’s gone before is gone and we’re in a brilliant position.“If you assess the position we are in, we don’t want to finish any lower. Naturally any team if you’re in this position will want to finish in a Champions League position.“We know what we need to do and we’ll finish as strong as we possibly can. And if that can keep us up where we are that would signify an incredible season for us.”"

Leicester next face 19th-placed Aston Villa at the King Power Stadium. Having finally won a game of football – the 1-0 win over Birmingham City in the FA Cup – some of the lost confidence and belief must have found its way back into the dressing room.

But facing a relegation-threatened side in the Premier League is a different job altogether.

We know how teams tend to up their game away to one of the big guys because they realise the importance of the points picked there.

It is time for Leicester to bring an end to their honeymoon period.

They’re in a phase now where another two or three bad results could significantly dent their qualification hopes with the cushion of comfort fast disappearing.

The return of Wilfred Ndidi will surely help. A return to winning ways will help more, though.