Ranieri ready to take further risks

Claudio Ranieri has named Tottenham as title favourites as the Leicester boss moves to ease the pressure off his side.

Spurs visit West Ham United on Wednesday and Arsenal entertain Swansea City desperate to show they are still genuine contenders following a depressing 3-2 defeat by a patched-up Manchester United side.

However, Ranieri continues to talk down their title chances and revealed on Sunday he was even unaware Arsenal suffered a crucial loss at Manchester United as he was out for a meal. But they were kept in check as Norwich played Leicester at its own game, sitting deep and then looking to hit the opposition on the break.

The rumour in the Times is that Antonio Conte’s already drawn up a transfer list for Chelsea, with speculation looming that the Italian will soon be announced as Chelsea’s permanent manager. It has become a recurring theme and, approaching 12 years since Wenger’s last championship, the frenzy that seems to accompany every bad result is becoming louder each time.

“We wanted to restart”. We have a big game on Tuesday now (against Chelsea) and if we can fight and scrap, create as many chances as we did today and keep the opposition quiet we’ll have a good chance.

“It is important to be patient, to be solid, to maintain clean sheets, and then you can win at the end of the match”.

“I hope he is ready because he is an important player”.

Kante has proved to be one of the bargains of the season since joining from Caen for a measly £5.6million in August, playing an integral part in helping the Foxes defy the odds by reaching the Premier League summit. Both teams are strong up front and Leicester tends to have high scoring games so this bet has a ton of value in it. Furthermore against a weak West Brom defense this bet seems like one of safest you will get. To be at the top, I don’t know, but to be in the battle for Europe and Champions League places.

And Ranieri added: “Fortunately, I have fantastic players”.

Ranieri said: “When you play against teams like Norwich, and West Bromwich, we had to be patient and find the solution”. “It is hard to put your finger on why they have struggled for consistency and Tottenham could very well put Arsenal out of the title race in Saturday’s derby”.

With Watford following West Brom, and a stretch including Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Southampton and Sunderland, Leicester could actually increase their lead by a healthy amount between now and early April.