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‘Focus the key’ for Leicester

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Ranieri demands calm as Leicester close in on title dream

Claudio Ranieri has demanded his players stay cool and collected, and most importantly, focused, as they close in on an extraordinary Premier League title.

Ranieri’s men yesterday secured Champions League football for next season after beating Sunderland 2-0 at the Stadium of Light. However, the Italian is refusing to look beyond the next match and is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

Asked if it was difficult to hear people saying the title is already theirs, the Italian said: “No, no, no. They can continue to say it.

“But it’s important our focus, our concentration is on the next match. I said this to the players: ‘Well done, we won, but now we have two matches. The first against West Ham is a very, very difficult match because they are a fantastic team with good players and everything right.

“After, there is Swansea, another difficult match. Now we are happy, but we must focus’.”

Ranieri seemed to well up at the full-time whistle on Sunday afternoon, as a Jamie Vardy double gave the Foxes 3 points and maintained their 7 point lead at the top of the table, a lead that Leicester only have to hold for 5 more games.

Leicester got their noses in front when Vardy ran on to Danny Drinkwater’s 66th-minute pass to beat goalkeeper Vito Mannone before out-muscling Patrick van Aanholt off the ball to double the lead in stoppage time.

Drinkwater said there is still work to be done, but his facial expression suggested the Foxes players now firmly believe the title is theirs to lose.

“We’ve got a few games left. It’s a step but a very big one,” he said. “If this puts more pressure on them (Spurs) then perfect but I can’t see Tottenham putting too much on this. It’s up to them now. The fans here are brilliant, and credit to the lads – we deserved that.”

As Leicester’s fairytale continues, Vardy thanked the Sunderland fans for showing their appreciation at the end of the match.

“Coming off, the Sunderland fans were clapping us as well which is brilliant,” he said. “It was a great game, we knew it would be tough but managed to grind it out. It’s a step closer to possibly winning the league. We’ll enjoy this for the rest of the day and then get back to training for the next week.”

 

By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10

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