Premier League: Dean Smith Cancels Leicester Day Off as Relegation Pressure Mounts

Dean Smith has laid down the law to his relegation-threatened Leicester players after cancelling their day off this week.

Leicester’s squad were scheduled to have a rest day on Tuesday, but Smith called a halt to that plan after Monday’s 5-3 defeat at Fulham pushed them closer to relegation.

The Foxes are third bottom of the Premier League and sit two points from safety with three games left.

Smith chaired a meeting at Leicester’s training base instead of the day off and he believes they took his message on board ahead of Monday’s crucial clash with Liverpool.

“It was due to be a day off but I don’t like things lingering. We came in and sorted it. I thought it went well, the proof will be on Monday,” Smith said.

“I’ve always been brought up in this game that you can’t change what’s happened, what you can do is learn from it and correct it and move on quickly.”

Former Aston Villa and Norwich boss Smith has struggled to lift Leicester away from relegation danger since replacing the sacked Brendan Rodgers in April.

The 2016 Premier League champions are without a win in their last three games as they slip closer to the second tier.

“There’s no point us worrying about the Fulham game for two or three more days. I wanted to put it to bed,” Smith said.

“It was a case of making sure we got that out there very quickly and spoke to the players and then we could move on from there.

“I did the talking and told them what I expected in certain situations of the Fulham game, what we needed to do better and what we will do better going forward.”

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)