Leicester players deserve champagne for reaching 40 points – Ranieri

Striker Jamie Vardy missed a great chance to put the Foxes ahead in the first-half as the hosts threatened the City defence with their trademark counter-attacking play.

Manchester City, which has not won away in the league since September, went close through Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi.

Vardy has played all 19 of his side’s Premier League games this season and emerged as the main man in their charge to the top of the table – and that was despite coping with a fractured wrist and a hip injury that ruled him out of England duty and playing the final two games of 2015 with a fever.

Against all expectation they enter 2016 joint-top of the table, as they prepare for their next encounter against Bournemouth on January 2, whilst Manchester City will seek a much needed away victory against Watford.

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri thought his side showed signs of fatigue at Anfield, but was delighted with the effort on Tuesday, saying a point apiece was a fair result.

“I wanted to see a reaction from the Liverpool game and it was good”, the Italian told reporters.

“But we are there and we love to stay there”. We’re just going to take it easy, stay grounded and look forward to the next game. “The draw is right”.

“We have a season and it’s important to have the amount of points you need to win the title”.

But with both Sergio Aguero and David Silva yet to recover full fitness after nagging injuries, and without their charismatic captain Vincent Kompany, Manuel Pellegrini’s men lacked their usual punch.

Recent record breaker Jamie Vardy went into the game having not scored in his last three, while Bournemouth were winless in two after previously enjoying three straight wins. After the weekend defeat to Liverpool, it was important to bounce back with a positive result and that’s what we did.

“I’m not happy but not disappointed also because we played well”.

Leicester blew a golden chance to step up their title bid as Riyad Mahrez had a penalty saved against 10-man Bournemouth.

For the first time in the match the momentum was firmly with one team and the pendulum swung further in Leicester’s favour in the 57th minute with the dismissal of Francis. Leicester huffed and puffed, but Ngolo Kante, Okazaki, Mahrez, and Albrighton all failed to break the deadlock.

The league’s top scorers, Leicester, will be wanting to take advantage of Bournemouth conceding the second most amount of goals in the league this season.