Brendan Rodgers thanks Leicester City trio for bringing 'freshness and balance' to his squad

Brendan Rodgers believes signings from Leicester City in January have brought a 'freshness' to the side as they seek to avoid relegation.

Brazilian winger Tete, defender Victor Kristiansen and Australian international Harry Souttar all joined the Foxes during the winter transfer window after a quiet summer.

Rodgers' team had a slow start to the season losing six of their first seven games. But they have since moved up to 14th in the table ahead of this weekend's home game against Tottenham.

The City manager insists his side showed 'resilience' in their 4-2 win over Aston Villa last time out and the new signings were a breath of fresh air within the squad the team.

He said in a press conference: "Having experienced winning teams is what we needed. The three guys (Tete, Kristiansen and Souttar) brought freshness, balance and competition.

"With the players back, we hope to continue. It was a fantastic win. We weren't perfect but we showed a lot of quality. We showed resilience to come from behind twice. We deserved to win."

"If you bring in new players with new hunger, it will improve the ones you have. Hopefully I've shown that we can pull it off."

Leicester ended a run of five league games without a win with a vital victory over Aston Villa on Saturday, but host a confident Tottenham side fresh off their exploits against title chasers Manchester City.

Harry Kane broke the club's goalscoring record with the only goal of the game last weekend, taking it to 267 in Spurs colors and Rodgers believes the England captain has been 'relentless' in his rise among the biggest names in the Premier League.

"He has absolutely everything," Rodgers continued.

"He's a world-class player. It's not just consistency - he's been relentless.

"It's no coincidence. He's hard work on the training ground. He has all the tools you would need as a top striker. He scores goals, he connects play, he's tough, he's strong mentally. He's a brilliant player, a great leader."

During their below-par start to the campaign, Leicester met a scorching Spurs as they were demolished 6-2, courtesy of a second-half Son Heung-min hat-trick in September.

Rodgers thinks his team has a great chance, having learned from the last time the two teams met.

He added, "We've played them and won them before. We understand their strengths. They're very good on the counter.

"They have good speed and can make the final pass. Against teams like Spurs you have to focus. We were good in the game for 70 minutes at home and then we got naïve.

"Against a team like Tottenham who are very good when they get away, you have to make sure that the team is well put together and slow down the counters.

"You want to go after the game, but you have to be very careful against Tottenham in that aspect. We have scored goals and created more chances. If we can close the game, we have a great chance.”< /p>

Ricardo Pereira has returned to full training and is back in contention to play as Leicester look to make it three games unbeaten in all competitions.

The 29-year-old has had an Achilles tendon injury since pre-season but played a behind-closed-doors friendly with Sevilla earlier this week.

Nigeria international Wilfred Ndidi was sidelined with a muscle problem last weekend and is also returning to the fray, but skipper Jonny Evans continues to recover from a calf problem.

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