Focused Claudio Ranieri playing it cool
The Foxes could seal a top four place if West Ham drop points against Arsenal in today’s early kick-off and they win at Sunderland and Manchester United lose at Tottenham tomorrow.
Ranieri has consistently refused to talk about winning the Premier League title and only entertained reaching the Champions League last month — despite currently being seven points clear at the top.
Victory tomorrow will open up a 10-point gap to second placed Spurs if they lose to United but Ranieri insisted he is not thinking about the Champions League yet.
He said: “What we do is important, before thinking about everything, then we can check the table. I’ll repeat to my players it’s important what we do. I can wait, the others can win all their matches. I must be focused.
“I expect Tottenham, Arsenal, everyone to win all their games and then I want to fight to achieve the Champions League. It will be a fantastic achievement. At this moment I don’t think behind me, I look forward and to the next match. Sunderland is a very difficult match.
“I am very happy we saved the team (from relegation), that is important. Our fans continue to dream, a lot of children come to our training ground, it is fantastic.
“Everyone is looking at what happens in the last six matches, me too, I am very curious, but we have to wait. There are a lot of people pushing behind us and that’s important but it’s important to keep our feet on the ground.”
Ranieri won the manager of the month prize for March after three wins and a draw but is taking nothing for granted at the Stadium of Light. He added: “Sunderland are desperate and it will be a big battle. Sometimes there is pretty football but I am waiting for a battle.”
Jeff Schlupp is available after a knee injury while Ranieri has no fresh injury worries.
Meanwhile, Leicester have six games left and will win the title with another four wins.
And with the Foxes in the final straight on Grand National weekend Ranieri has urged his side not to fall at the final hurdle
. He said: “We are in front but we have to run a lot now. We have finished the [last] corner and now we are looking at the line. We have to hold on tight and stick our elbows out to make sure nobody gets past.
“I think now we have opened the heart to everybody, the little normal teams and the normal players. How many of our players were playing in non-league or small leagues a few years ago? And that is good for football. It’s good publicity for everybody.
“We are building something good. The foundation is done. That is fantastic. Now we have to continue this dream. ”
For his part, Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce insists he is more confident than ever his side can beat the drop.
The Black Cats languish four points from safety after last weekend’s frustrating goalless draw at West Brom - but Allardyce believes he has seen enough to sense survival.
Allardyce said: “I’m more confident than I’ve ever been since I’ve been here based on the performances. If we can perform this week like we can perform last week that is all I can ask for and hopefully it will be big enough to bring us probably our biggest three points of the season.
“A win would see us become only the fourth team to beat Leicester this season - that’s how big it is for us - but if we play as well as we did last week then it will give us the platform to do it.”
Allardyce dragged his squad off to train on Sunderland beach this week in a bid to blow away that frustration which has seen his side slide deeper into trouble on the back of four consecutive draws.
And he insists any prospective title jitters on Leicester’s part will pale in comparison to his own side’s issues when it comes to the task of confirming their top-flight status for another year.
Allardyce added: “There’s a lot more pressure on us than there is on Leicester with the position we’re faced with, but we’ve managed to handle that pressure extremely well in performance terms.
“It’s a bigger game for us than it is for them on the basis of our status in the Premier League.
“Much as they would like to go on and win it, it would still be an outstanding season (for Leicester) if they finished second.”
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