Brendan Rodgers sets 40-points target as situation is ‘totally different’ now

Boss Brendan Rodgers admits Leicester can only target 40 points after their summer cutbacks.

The Foxes are bottom and winless in the Premier League ahead of Sunday’s trip to Brighton.

They had to sell Wesley Fofana to Chelsea for £70million before Rodgers could bring in any new recruits, with defender Wout Faes joining from Reims this week.

Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha wrote in Thursday’s programme ahead of the 1-0 defeat to Manchester United that FFP and Covid were two of the biggest reasons for the Foxes’ position.

They have been unable to significantly strengthen and Rodgers is facing up to the reality of the situation this season, having finished fifth in 2020 and 2021.

He said: “Our objective is to get to 40 points. It’s totally different (from the past).

“I’m preparing to get to 40 points, to get working and everyone going in the same direction. We’re not going to lay down and roll over, we have to find a way now.

“I felt six months ago we needed to improve in the summer. No matter how good you have been it needs regenerating.

“Some players when I came into here, three-and-a-half years ago, at that point were being written off at 32 and 33 years old. We are three-and-a-half years on and not a great deal has changed in terms of the starting XI.

“I knew it would be an issue for us and we haven’t been able to do it.”

In contrast, Brighton have enjoyed a positive start, despite selling Marc Cucurella, Yves Bissouma and Neal Maupay.

Their unbeaten run came to an end after losing 2-1 at Fulham on Tuesday, but Rodgers expects the Seagulls to pose a tough challenge.

“I agree they have made an excellent start,” said the former Liverpool manager. “We’ll go away, recover (from losing to United) and it’ll be a difficult game for us. Other teams know as well once we start to click we can cause problems for them.”