Ranieri thrilled by collective display as Leicester go top

This game is the beginning of a stretch of three home games out of four overall as Newcastle also host Aston Villa and Everton, and they can’t afford to drop more points.

Leicester striker Jamie Vardy was bidding to equal Jimmy Dunne’s 83-year-old English top-flight record by scoring for the 12th game running, but it was Mahrez who stole the show at the Liberty Stadium.

Leicester’s victory at Swansea will cast further doubt on the future of home manager Garry Monk whose team has taken only six points out of out a possible 33.

“Everyone looks to Jamie Vardy for the goals but today was about Mahrez”.

Manchester City’s defeat to Stoke had presented Leicester with the opportunity to reclaim their place at the top of the table and, as Ranieri’s men have done so often this season, they seized the moment.

“We dominated the game but one refereeing mistake cost us”, Mourinho said.

“They have every right to think that way (staying up there) and have every chance of doing so”, Monk said. The Foxes are proudly standing in between the two Manchester sides and after last week’s draw against Louis van Gaal’s United, have no intention of giving up the second place they are occupying. “I fear the reality is worse than that”.

Swansea could not cope with Leicester’s movement and shortly afterwards the visitors doubled their lead when N’Golo Kante played in Mahrez who found the bottom corner with aplomb.

We have seen Monk changing his starting XI in the last couple of games, though they did not make any bigger impact.

“I would have liked him to have a chance, we thought there were a few handballs near the end for him to have a penalty”.

Earlier, Manuel Pellegrini’s men served up an abject performance as two first-half goals from Marko Arnautovic and a brilliant individual performance by Xherdan Shaqiri gave Mark Hughes’ side the points.

While Spurs, who visit West Bromwich Albion, remain unbeaten in 13 league games, they are at risk of being outflanked by Liverpool, whose 6-1 League Cup win at Southampton on Wednesday was their seventh in eight games. And rather than trying to claim the scoring record, Vardy laid the ball off in the 67th for Mahrez to complete a first career hat trick.

“He turned up for the second one though and was one of the best players I’d seen at his level”. We knew he was good, but we didn’t realise how exceptional he was.

Monk replaced Wayne Routledge with Jefferson Montero at half-time and only the crossbar stopped Swansea from getting back into the game when Ki Sung-yueng’s header from a Gylfi Sigurdsson free-kick clattered against the woodwork.