Claudio Ranieri laughs off talk of Leicester City winning title

Claudio Ranieri watched his Leicester City team draw level on points with Arsenal at the top of the Premier League after a 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur but he maintained any title talk was silly.

“I laugh,” the Leicester manager said, when asked how it felt to have his club touted as potential champions. “It’s January. What a pity! If it was May, maybe. We must continue to work hard, to keep our feet on the ground. It is a crazy, crazy league this year and we must continue.”

Ranieri and his players are living a dream, having bolted from relegation contenders last season to the shoulders of the title favourites, Arsenal. He made the point that his pre-season target of 40 points and survival had been achieved but he now has an updated one. “We achieve 39 points in the first half of the season and, after, I said: ‘OK, now we want to achieve 40 points [over the second half of the season].’ Always, I want to improve. Thirty-nine and, in the second-half, 40. If we make 79 points, I am very, very happy.

“Will that win the title? I don’t know. I think a lot of people are [SAYING]: ‘What happens at Leicester? What can Leicester do?’ I don’t have answer. I don’t know what we can do.”

Ranieri was heartened that his team had once again found the way to get a result without decisive contributions from his star men, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez. It was the defender, Robert Huth, who headed the late winner.

“We drew in the FA Cup at Tottenham on Sunday with goals from [MARCIN]Wasilewski and [SHINJI]Okazaki and, tonight, it was Huth,” Ranieri said.

“A lot of players can make a goal, and that’s important for the team and the confidence to continue this great moment for us.”

Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham manager, was at a loss to explain the result. "It is hard to accept," he said. "We played better, we deserved more and all the stats are positive for us. But football is about scoring and we didn't score."

(Guardian service)