Brendan Rodgers insists Chelsea are the favourites for their league clash with his Leicester side

Brendan Rodgers believes Chelsea have the edge over Leicester in Tuesday’s FA Cup Final repeat which takes place barely 72 hours after the Foxes’ Wembley triumph.

Leicester won the Cup for the first time in their 137-year history by beating Thomas Tuchel’s side 1-0 last Saturday and know a similar result will secure a place in next season’s Champions League.

But Leicester would rather the Stamford Bridge clash had been played on Wednesday to give the Finalists an extra 24 hours’ recovery time, especially as the final round of Premier League fixtures is on Sunday rather than Saturday.

Brendan Rodgers (left) claims Chelsea have the edge over Leicester in Tuesday’s league game

Rodgers won Leicester the FA Cup by beating the Blues and the teams meet a few days later 

‘There’s no question the game being on the Tuesday will benefit those squads who have a lot of the top-class players, and Chelsea have one of the best in Europe,’ said Leicester manager Rodgers.

‘They can rotate and make the changes to make that physical difference and it won’t make a massive difference to the quality. The extra day would have helped us

‘It doesn’t mean we’ll be any less prepared or ready but it would have been nice if we could have played on the Wednesday, especially with the Final last Saturday and then with the last Premier League fixtures being on Sunday.

‘We haven’t talked about [fixture problems] all year and I’m not going to moan too much about it now but it certainly would have helped us.’

Rodgers claims Chelsea’s squad depth will benefit them in this short space of time 

Rodgers confirmed Leicester would be without key defender Jonny Evans due to the ongoing heel issue that forced him off during the first half of the Cup Final.

Both James Maddison and Marc Albrighton are pushing to start the match if Rodgers opts to freshen things up, but the bulk of the Wembley starting XI is expected to be on duty once more.

Leicester may parade the trophy after their final match against Tottenham on Sunday, when the club will welcome back supporters to the King Power Stadium for the first time since March 2020, but there will be no full-scale celebration due to Covid protocols.

Rodgers added: ‘We have to respect the responsibility of where we’re at. We would love to [celebrate with the fans], but probably in pre-season, depending on whatever the restrictions are then.’