adminLEICESTER CITY manager Claudio Ranieri has asked Arsenal not to give him a rude awakening when the Premier League leaders visit the Emirates Stadium tomorrow. Leicester’s amazing tilt at a first league title is turning doubters into believers and their convincing 3-1 defeat of Manchester City in their last league outing led to them being installed as title favourites by the bookmakers.
The question now hanging over Leicester’s season is whether they have the experience to handle the pressure of a title run-in, but Ranieri insists their rivals have more to worry about.
“This time I hope the bookmakers are right. They’re just words though, not points. Give me points,” the Italian told reporters yesterday.
“The pressure is on the others. Tell me why we have pressure? Why must I feel pressure? We just continue to dream with our fans. Nobody wake us up please.
“It’s not pressure for us, the pressure was at the beginning to start well and carry on. We wanted to maintain the standard of performance and now we are safe.”
Third-placed Arsenal, who trail the leaders by five points, are one of only two teams to have beaten Leicester in the league this season, having prevailed 5-2 at the King Power Stadium on September 26, and Ranieri is anticipating another thriller.
“Arsenal have so many fantastic players. They have magicians that can score suddenly,” he said.
“In the last match they scored five, we scored two and hit the post twice. It was an exciting match. It will be open tomorrow… (but) Arsenal has more pressure because they have spent more money.” — SuperSport
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter