Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers believes European football could come too soon for the Foxes should they secure their place in the UEFA Europa League ahead of next season.
The East-Midlanders currently sit in seventh place in the Premier League table, a position that could potentially be enough to see them earn their place in Europe next season should Manchester City win the FA Cup. However, there are other clubs in and around the Foxes, namely Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United, Watford and Everton that are also still in with a chance of overtaking the Foxes.
Should they remain in the current position, Rodgers has suggested it would be a challenge that his squad would relish despite their potentially being some problems.
'It's always difficult to turn it down'
Talking ahead of Leicester's clash with the Hammers with Leicestershire Live, he said: “There’s an argument for and against it.
"You could say it would come too early for us, especially when we trying to create something, but it’s always difficult to turn it down if the opportunity is there.
“At the moment it looks like nobody wants it. We lost on Friday and everybody around us lost as well, but our job is to finish the season as strong as we can.
“If that takes us to seventh, great, and then we’ll embrace the challenge next season, whether we are in Europe or not.”
Of course, Leicester have recent pedigree in Europe having reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League during the 2016/17 season. They were eventually eliminated by Spanish giants Atletico Madrid.
'We are playing against a good team'
Rodgers' men come up against one of their direct rivals for seventh place, West Ham United, on Saturday afternoon at the London Stadium. A victory could reinforce Leicester's grip on seventh, whilst a second consecutive defeat could deal a huge blow to their pursuit of European football.
Rodgers is expecting an extremely tough game against Manuel Pellegrini's Hammers at the weekend.
He said: "We are playing against a good team in West Ham United with good, quality players and have been good at home.
“It will be a test but we will look to play better than the last game and we know we have good players who are looking forward to this game.”