BIG MOON PROMISES DUST-UPS
“I know it’s going to come back. I just need to keep working and everything will come back normally.”
City are without a league goal this year and have lost four in a row in the league, making it a crunch game at the Liberty Stadium tomorrow – by when both clubs could be in the relegation zone.
But Mahrez insists he is not surprised the champions have found themselves back battling at the wrong end of the table.
Leicester’s owner felt compelled to publicly back boss Claudio Ranieri (left) and talk to the players this week to rally them after mounting unrest over the Italian’s tinkering with everything from the line-up to menus.
Mahrez appreciates it is now time for him and Leicester’s other star players to deliver again if they are to avoid being in a dogfight to avoid the drop. The 25-year-old, who signed a new £100,000-a-week deal in the summer, said: “I knew it would be difficult, we’re just in a bad moment right now but we just have to come back our way.
“I’m not surprised. We’re a good team but things sometimes go strange in football, so you never know. But we have good players, we know we have quality in this team and we know if we do things properly we’ll stay in the Premier League.
“It’s a big game at Swansea. We have to prepare properly because both the clubs are near the bottom and we need to get something from that.
“We need to just focus on the 14 games left and make sure we’re safe. We want to be safe before the last five games.
“We don’t want to be in a struggle right at the end.” PAUL CLEMENT believes his Swansea side can drag more clubs into the relegation scrap.
Two wins from Clement’s first four league games have hauled the Swans out of the drop zone and earned him January’s Manager of the Month award (above).
The former Bayern Munich assistant has proved a revelation since replacing Bob Bradley at the Liberty Stadium last month. The turnaround in form has pulled Middlesbrough and tomorrow’s opponents Leicester into trouble.
“When I took the job it looked like four teams were fighting to stay up – now it’s six,” said the Swans head coach. “It is absolutely six, but who knows after this weekend whether it is going to be that, whether it is
going to be seven? P W D L F A Pts Burnley 24 9 2 13 26 35 29 Southampton 24 7 6 11 24 31 27 Bournemouth 24 7 5 12 35 47 26 Middlesbro 24 4 9 11 19 27 21 Leicester 24 5 6 13 24 41 21 Swansea 24 6 3 15 29 54 21 Hull 24 5 5 14 22 47 20 C Palace 24 5 4 15 32 45 19 Sunderland 24 5 4 15 24 42 19 Bournemouth could be dragged into it, they play Manchester City so it will be a very difficult game for them.
“Leicester have lost their last four league games and it has seen them slide down the table – it can happen to anybody.
“The bottom of the table could change really quickly after the weekend with it being so close. One team wins and everyone else loses and it is going to look really good for that team.”
Commenting on being Manager of the Month, Clement added: “I was a little bit surprised in a good way to win the award, but I am pleased the impact has been recognised.
“It’s a nice recognition of the work everyone has done this month.
“The players, most importantly, the backroom staff, but also the fans as well, getting behind the team and showing a real positive attitude towards supporting the team.
“They have been a big help, but I will be judged at the end of May – that’s what I’m very conscious of.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s nice at this point, but it won’t mean anything if at the end of the season we haven’t achieved our
objective.” JAMIE VARDY is a doubt for Leicester’s relegation showdown at Swansea tomorrow, meaning he could miss his reunion with red-card referee Jon Moss.
Moss take charge of his first Foxes game since sending off Vardy for two yellow cards – the second of which was for diving – against West Ham in April during last season’s title run-in.
Leicester were furious with Moss’s handling of that game and have not encountered the West Yorkshire whistler since. But England striker Vardy (left) could miss out with the injury that sidelined him from Wednesday’s FA Cup replay win against Derby. Boss Claudio Ranieri said: “Jamie had a kick on a muscle and we want to check how he trains. “He is not 100 per cent. I want to check.” FROM FRONT PAGE the latest casualty of the curse when he saw red in December 2016 against Southampton as a full moon beamed over the bet365 Stadium.
No doubt the officials will tell you it’s actually the full moon that brings out the beast in the players.
Five stars were sent off on August 29, 2015 when the moon was at its fattest – and it was a similar story in September 1999.
And an astonishing eight red cards were brandished on October 31, 2009, two days before a full moon.
In 2015, Stoke duo Ibrahim Afellay and Charlie Adam were sent off in the same clash with West Brom.
Afellay (above) made the lunatic decision to slap Craig Gardner and Adam was then guilty of a ghastly stamp on