Kasper Schmeichel insistent over Leicester City progress as he previews potential final season

Kasper Schmeichel insists Leicester City did make progress last season despite dropping down the Premier League table.

The City captain helped guide the club to eighth in the standings, three places and 14 points shy of their finish in the previous campaign, when they challenged for a Champions League spot but just fell short.

As he looks ahead to the new campaign following the release of the Premier League fixture schedule, the Dane believes City showed amid their at-times underwhelming form last season that they can vie for places higher up the table.

The new season may be Schmeichel’s last at the club, with his contract expiring next summer, and so he will want to finish on a high. He said after City were handed Brentford at home to begin the 2022-23 season: “Opening weekend fixtures are always a really good test with both teams keen to start their seasons strongly, so it’s great for us to be able to kick off our season with a home game in front of our own supporters.

“Brentford are a difficult opponent, as they showed with an excellent first season in the Premier League, but regardless of the opposition, it’ll be about us trying to put into practice everything we will have worked so hard on in pre-season.

“The journey this football club has been on in my time here has been incredible and although last season didn’t always go our way due to several factors, we still made progress and we still showed that we have what it takes to compete at the higher end of the Premier League.”

Schmeichel also echoed his manager Brendan Rodgers’ optimistic stance on the tough run that follows the Brentford game, with trips to Arsenal and Chelsea, and a home fixture with Manchester United, all coming before August is over.

He said: