Ranieri upbeat despite FA Cup exit

Jurgen Klopp’s men did eventually make the scoreline a more comprehensive one, after Sheyi Ojo and Joao Carlos Teixeira scored their first goals for the club deep in the second half.

The Football Association are likely to find two offers attractive due to the increased revenue they would produce – but Tottenham are believed to be eyeing up the possibility of shipping out to stadium:mk, home of Sky Bet Championship outfit Milton Keynes Dons, as well.

And Ranieri, whose side sit second in the Premier League on goal difference, said the result enables him to focus fully on continuing their brilliant top-flight campaign.

“(There has been) no communication from my chairman and we didn’t speak about that.

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have both secured their progression to the fourth round of the FA Cup with wins over Exeter City and Leicester City respectively.

Leicester got the better of Spurs by a final scoreline of 1-0 in a Premier League match sandwiched between the two FA Cup matches.

“They change all the team, only kept their goalkeeper and we lost”.

The hosts threw everything at Tottenham to try and force a late comeback, but it wasn’t to be and in fact it was Spurs who created the better chances late on as they exploited the acres of space available on the counter-attack.

“We are ready to compete tomorrow”.

Fans can rest for the FA Cup, too, if the vast numbers of empty seats at kick-off were any guide.

Earlier this season, the big story was that the Blues were hoping to get exclusive use of Wembley for the three seasons we’d be away from Stamford Bridge – with a fourth built in as a safety precaution in case of delays – and that we were willing to pay extra to keep Spurs out of it. Spurs’ leadership even whined about the unfairness of that all.

“We knew we would have a lot of ball possession and we did”.

As in the first meeting 11 days ago, both managers made sweeping changes – in each case eight compared with Saturday’s Premier League line-ups. “It’s a clear message for our fans – when you are Tottenham or Leicester we need to show respect for the squad”.