Claudio Ranieri says that Leicester City’s Premier League title rivals will be tired by exertions in Europe and domestic cup competitions while his side have just the league to concentrate on, having beaten Manchester City 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
After a result that sent Leicester six points clear at the top before Tottenham’s win against Watford, Ranieri said his side had no distractions for the final 13 games of the league season.
He said: “We lost the League Cup, the FA Cup and now we have to think about only the Premier League. How we play, how we fight. Of course whoever plays in the Champions League, FA Cup or Europa League spends a lot of energy, they travel a lot and it is not easy. But that’s a little advantage. Now we have to concentrate match by match, step by step.”
Ranieri’s side, who were 3-0 up until Sergio Aguero’s late goal for the home team, are the bookmakers’ favourites for the first time in the title race.
The Italian insisted there should be no pressure on his players. “I hope to bring to me all the pressure [sic] and let them play free. I want to give my players all the highlights [plaudits], that’s important. They are doing a fantastic job and I want to continue to give them the highlights of the match.”
He added: “I don’t believe the bookmakers [making Leicester favourites]. At the beginning of the season the bookmakers said ‘Sack Ranieri’. I hope one time [on the league title] they are right!”
Manuel Pellegrini was critical of his side and tried to avoid questions about whether the Pep Guardiola announcement had an effect on the team. At first he refused to answer, but then said: “It would be very easy for me to say ‘yes’ [to that question].”
Pellegrini said: “We played against a very good team, it is fair to give them merit as they are playing very well at this moment. After that, we defended very badly, especially set-piece and conceding two goals from them. We did well in the last game but in this game we did very badly.”
- Telegraph