Claudio Ranieri: Riyad Mahrez can improve at Leicester

Claudio Ranieri insists Leicester City are not title contenders, despite leading the Premier League table at Christmas.

The high flying Foxes amazingly will be top of the Premier League come Christmas Day, when many expected them to be much closer to the opposite end of the table at this time of year before a ball was kicked.

“There’s a long way to go this season but the confidence last night’s game will have given to Arsene’s troops is invaluable”.

Ranieri has urged Foxes fans to keep on dreaming of a title challenge but has told his players they can perform pressure-free for the rest of the season. However, it is very hard to imagine Leicester letting go of one of their star players mid-season when they are doing so well.

Since the Premier League’s inaugural campaign, the team sitting in first place on December 25 has finished in the top four in 22 of 23 seasons.

“Drinkwater is getting better but at the moment I don’t want to risk him”, said Ranieri. That is what they set out when they first took over the club.

One of those is Switzerland captain Gokhan Inler, a £3.5 million ($7.6 million) signing this summer, who is preparing for Euro 2016 but has started only two league games.

Story of the year, maybe story of the decade and probably the story of the Premier League era is Leicester City’s current form and all round play.

Even if opponents didn’t explicitly say it, they would have considered themselves lucky if they had managed to get a point against Chelsea (especially at Stamford Bridge), Man United and Man City in the past.

“Of course we have to respect them but when we play them we have to do everything to try to get the three points”. Obviously they must have seen something in me, but they knew I was nowhere near the fitness levels required.

The Foxes were rock bottom for most of last season but pulled off a great escape to stay up after winning seven of their last nine matches to finish 14th.