Claudio Ranieri wary of Crystal Palace backlash

Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri warned his leaders must beware misfiring Crystal Palace if they are to maintain their push for glory.

The Foxes go to Selhurst Park five points clear at the top of the Premier League and face a Palace side without a win in their last 12 league games, with their last victory coming at Stoke in December.

Ranieri says he is not going to be fooled by statistics, however. “I hate all the stats. It’s just another game,” he said yesterday.

“They’ve been on a tough run but they got a win last week in the cup which maybe gave them confidence.

“It’s a tough place to go to and I’m pretty sure the manager Alan Pardew will be getting them up for this. It’s a challenge and I think they still need a few more wins to be safe. It’ll be a tough game.”

The hosts have reached the FA Cup semi-final, where they face Watford, but Alan Pardew’s side have dropped to 15th in the Premier League.

With Leicester expected to win in London, Ranieri is cautious against their out-of-form hosts.

“It’s very strange. When we played here it was a very difficult match, I was so happy the last time because we made the first clean sheet. Also at the end of the match I didn’t say hello to Alan Pardew — I made a mistake.

“I was so happy I went to the pitch because I recognised it was a very difficult match to beat them. It will be the same on Saturday, it wuill be a very, very tough match.”

And after Leicester reached 40 points earlier this season Ranieri hinted he wanted 79 points but admits now they may need more to win the title. “I think we need a little more,” he said.

“We need an extra. We have to put a turbo behind us and push a lot.”

Ranieri believes he has gone from Tinkerman to Sausageman as the Foxes’ sizzling season continues.

City butchers W Archer & Son have created a Ranieri sausage in his honour with the Foxes top of the Barclays Premier League and five points clear.

“I am the Sausageman. It is a good sausage. If there is enough chilli, it is good,” he said. “You bring the sausage to everybody. I pay for pizza, you pay for sausage.”

Pardew, meanwhile, insists Crystal Palace will not change their attacking style to contain Leicester. Palace have slid to 15th and the Eagles are in danger of being pulled into a relegation scrap.

Victory over the league leaders could spark a turnaround but an open approach may also suit Leicester, who have proved themselves deadly on the counter-attack. We’ll go toe-to-toe. My philosophy won’t change,” Pardew said.

“We’ve played reasonably well at home. I’m not going to change us. We’re still going to play an open game, we’re still going to attack the opposition.

“I could sit my team in and grind out some wins at home, but my fans don’t want that.

“They want us to compete on an even keel with the top teams. We’ll compete against Leicester.”