Brendan Rodgers has backed Leicester’s character ahead of their huge clash with Liverpool.
The Foxes are 10 points behind the leaders after Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Manchester City – their first loss since October.
They welcome the Premier League pacesetters on Boxing Day aiming to end the Reds’ unbeaten run this season.
Liverpool beat Leicester 2-1 at Anfield thanks to James Milner’s controversial late penalty, only for the Foxes to win their next eight games, and Rodgers wants to see a similar recovery following their loss at the Etihad Stadium.
“We have a fantastic resilience and we’ve shown that in a number of months but when you lose a game it’s always difficult,” the Leicester boss said.
“It’s my job as the leader to ensure it doesn’t get the players too down. We’re a humble group, we want to be better and we understand part of that development is you are going to lose games.
“That’ll happen, it’s a case of reflecting on it. We always believe in the process but when there’s a bump in the road we never get too down about it.
“We’re thinking about bringing a performance to the game which can get us three points.
“Our objectives are very much the same, we want to continue developing as a team and we still have a lot more to do to get to the level we want to be.”
Liverpool return from Qatar after winning the Club World Cup with a 1-0 win over Flamengo on Saturday but Rodgers feels his former club will shrug off any tiredness from travelling.
“It is a fantastic achievement, it’s a great status to have so very well done to them,” said the former Reds manager.
“We’re at home, we want to bring our true game – we know it’s going to be difficult but it’ll be a great test for us.
“They will come back on a high and will continue with the work they’ve shown in the last couple of years.”
Harvey Barnes could be available after coming off against Manchester City with an ankle problem following a collision with Ederson.
Rodgers added: “He’s been getting treatment in the last couple of days but hopefully he’ll be back into training on Tuesday. It’s not as bad as what we thought.”
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