Impressed Mourinho insists Leicester are title contenders

Claudio Ranieri said his manager of the month award was only possible because his Leicester City players have been able to put his game plan in place on the pitch.

Jose Mourinho’s side beat Porto 2-0 to advance to the Champions League knockout stages on Wednesday night as Group G winners and Oscar wants to translate the vastly improved showing into the Premier League.

Ranieri, meanwhile, took Leicester back to the top of the Premier League with victory over Swansea last weekend a position they hit during an impressive unbeaten November which saw them record wins away to Newcastle, at home to Watford, and a 1-1 draw with Manchester United.

Ranieri, who managed Chelsea between 2000 and 2004, has taken the Foxes to the top of the league as the season’s surprise package and they host 14th-placed Chelsea on Monday.

I said a few weeks ago that I did not believe that they could be champions, maybe I need to reconsider.

“If Leicester are where they are, it’s because the manager and players are doing magnificent”, Mourinho added.

Chelsea, on other hand, sit just two points above the bottom three and 14 points adrift of the top four.

‘I think we needed this win.

“Everyone expects them to win every game but we’re full of confidence and we should be looking to get a win”. If Leicester are where they are its because the manager and players are doing magnificent. “They’re not in the best of form at the moment and they should be doing a lot better”, Morgan told the club’s official website. Sooner or later they will start.

“When people are so nice to me and they sing my name and “Stand up for the Special One”, I feel a bit embarrassed, because I don’t know how to react”, Mourinho said.

Things have also turned around for Mourinho, who led Chelsea to the championship in May but is now under pressure for his job after the team’s worst start to a Premier League title defense.

It makes a difference from 2010, when Mourinho said Ranieri was “considered a loser” at Chelsea for failing to win any silverware in his 3 1/2 years at Stamford Bridge.

“Ranieri? He has just won manager of the month, although I think he should have won more than that (once)”.

Ranieri has in-form strikers Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez fit and firing, with the Englishman having scored or assisted in 13 consecutive Premier League games.