Dean Smith believes Leicester City have put extra pressure on Everton in the clubs’ relegation fight with their point at Newcastle forcing the Toffees to go in search of victory on the final day. Had City lost at St James’ Park, Everton may have been able to get away with a draw on the final day, with only a three-goal victory for Leeds over Tottenham toppling them. But City’s goal difference will mean the Toffees have to push for all three points.
Dean Smith said: “We hope we can get to the King Power and fortunes go our way. We’ve made Everton have to win if we win ourselves. That performance (against Newcastle) was what supporters deserved with all the travelling they’ve done this season, and it was a clean sheet they deserved. I think we have (put pressure on Everton). If they draw and we win we stay up. I did say it might be down to goal difference. We have got a tough game against West Ham who have just qualified for a European final. Their manager is a good friend of mine, David Moyes, he’s someone I have a lot of respect for and he will make it a really tough game for us.”
To get the point at Newcastle, Smith went for a defence-first approach, dropping James Maddison and Harvey Barnes to the bench and bringing in Harry Souttar to form a back five. City needed luck on their side with Newcastle hitting the woodwork three times, but they held out for their first Premier League clean sheet since November, and then nearly won it in injury time when Timothy Castagne’s volley was saved by Nick Pope.
Dean Smith said: “It was a real battling performance. I make no apologies for the way we set up for too long and the reason we are where we are is because of that. My mind was made up when I watched Newcastle play Brighton. Brighton have been one of the best footballing teams in the Premier League this year and that first 20 minutes, Newcastle steamrolled them. They’re such a threat with the quality of set-pieces from Trippier, the height and power they have in there. That was my mind made up that we had to go for five and get an extra centre-back in there. I thought Harry Souttar did very well today with Jonny and Wout. We had to make sacrifices with the team sheet and hope we were still in the game for the players to make an impact off the bench. It almost worked exactly to plan but the goalkeeper made a good save in the 90th minute from our only shot.”
