leicester city

Leicester City’s Chelsea tie won’t fall into category

Published

9 months ago

February 29, 2024

The FA Cup should not be viewed as a distraction from Leicester City’s pursuit of promotion, Conor Coady has said with the club now 90 minutes from Wembley.

City moved into the quarter-finals of the world’s most famous cup competition on Tuesday night with a 1-0 extra-time victory over Bournemouth. And on Wednesday night, Chelsea’s late victory over Leeds set up a last-eight tie at Stamford Bridge in a repeat of the 2021 final.

The priority this season for City is to join both Chelsea and Bournemouth in the Premier League next year, and the quarter-final means the potentially-decisive Championship clash with Southampton will now be moved. But the quest for promotion doesn’t cheapen the FA Cup for the players involved.

Coady was at the heart of an excellent defensive performance at the Vitality Stadium, City keeping a clean sheet to move into the last eight for the first time since they lifted the trophy three years ago. For Coady, memories of days like that mean City won’t let the quarter-final take a backseat to the promotion push.

On the topic of the FA Cup being a ‘distraction’, Coady said: “As a footballer, I’ve never liked that kind of phrase. I’ve never been someone who believes in that. I’ve never understood people who say that.

“The FA Cup is an incredible competition and this club knows that better than most, winning it a few years ago. We’ve said all year we want to go as far as we can in it. We’ve come here to show how we play but more importantly to get the win.”

Coady was one of nine changes made to the City starting line-up at Bournemouth, but by beating the Cherries, they showed the strength of the squad and the success of Enzo Maresca’s gameplan. But Coady didn’t need Tuesday’s result to know that.

He said: “I don’t think it’s just about beating a Premier League team. I think it’s about getting into the hat for the next round. We’re into the quarters now. We know we’re a good team. We’ve come up against good teams.

“We knew that in house (that there is a good squad). We know we’ve got a squad of players who are desperate to play for one, and who will do everything they can to win for this football club, because the football club is the most important.”