Brendan Rodgers insists he is staying at Leicester amid Arsenal speculation
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers has ruled himself out of the running to be Arsenal’s next manager.
The 46-year-old has been linked with the job after Unai Emery was sacked by the Gunners on Friday but insisted he was staying after the Foxes’ last-gasp 2-1 win over Everton.
Kelechi Iheanacho’s stoppage-time strike – given by VAR – broke the Toffees’ hearts to leave them two points above the relegation zone.
Jamie Vardy cancelled out Richarlison’s first-half opener to leave Everton boss Marco Silva on the brink.
"We introduced another striker and once we did that, the whole momentum of the game went with ourselves, so the players certainly deserved it."— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 1, 2019
Rodgers has guided Leicester to second place in the Premier League after six straight wins and said he was staying.
“Yeah, very much so,” he told BBC Radio 5Live.
He continued: “It doesn’t annoy me. I don’t think so much about it. It’s not in my control.
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“I came here to help the project and see if we could bring it forward. I’m at a great club. I absolutely love it here.
“It seems now you’re talking about a manager losing their job all the time and looking to be replaced.
“Names will get thrown right, left and centre. For the Arsenal job there are probably about 10 names. Me, I’m just concentrating on Leicester.”
HT. Good half, Blues! More of the same in the second 45! 👏 #LEIEVE— Everton (@Everton) December 1, 2019
Gutsy Everton took a first-half lead through Richarlison’s 23rd-minute header.
The Foxes initially struggled to recover until they levelled with 22 minutes left.
Iheanacho’s cross-shot found Vardy at the far post and he tapped in his 13th goal of the season.
He has now scored in six straight Premier League games, halfway to breaking his own record for goals in consecutive matches.
Six. In. A. Row.#lcfc have broken their record for consecutive Premier League wins!— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 1, 2019
Leicester rediscovered their momentum and Iheanacho struck the winner in injury time for his first Premier League goal since September 2018.
The former Manchester City forward curled into the bottom corner and, despite the linesman flagging for offside, VAR replays gave the goal.
It left Everton 17th and boss Silva insisted his future was out of his hands.
He said: “I’m not the right person to ask about that. I know what I’m doing. I know what my job is. Tomorrow will be another day for me to prepare another training session.”
The manager was happy with the commitment of his players, though, and believes they showed he has their backing ahead of Wednesday’s derby at Liverpool.
Silva said: “I never had doubts about that. I said after the Norwich game you have to show it with actions and they showed that.
“They are always working hard to get results. This moment is a tough moment for our dressing room but I told them we have to stay together and they did everything.
“It was a moment for us to show a reaction and we did that. We have to be fair to them, they did everything.
“It (Liverpool) is a tough match but also a special match. You never know what can happen in a derby.”
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