SAFETY FIRST!
Foxes want survival before Euro showdown
LEICESTER are desperate to seal survival this weekend before they head into the unknown.
Winger Marc Albrighton is hoping they can serve up a Sunday special at Everton to virtually guarantee their Premier League safety.
A win would give them 39 points and peace of mind before flying to Spain for the Champions League quarter-final clash at Atletico Madrid three days later.
The rejuvenated Foxes have strung together six successive victories since Craig Shakespeare took over from Claudio Ranieri.
One more should be enough to ensure they don’t suffer the shame and notoriety of nosediving from champions to the Championship.
Albrighton came off the bench to set up both goals in the 2-0 victory over Sunderland on Tuesday.
He said: “It would be great to go into such a massive Champions League match being as good as safe. We want to do that as soon as possible. It took longer than we would have liked already but that is the way it is.
Confident
“We have been fantastic over the last few weeks in picking up as many points as possible and hopefully, with the confidence we have now, we can keep this run going.
“We were always confident we could stay in this league. I think when you are on a run of defeats, you need to get that turning point as soon as possible.
“We managed to get that against Liverpool and that was massive for us. Obviously it was what turned us around and we took confidence from that and have carried on winning.”
Albrighton admits that the flak heaped on the players following the sacking of popular title-winning boss Ranieri proved the spur.
He said: “Of course, when you see things written about you like that, it is not nice. It does boil up inside you.
“If we can win as many games as we can between now and the end of the season, to finish as high as we can, then suddenly it doesn’t look like too bad a season.
“Premier League safety has always been our main focus. If we can secure that before the Atletico game with a win at Goodison, then it would be brilliant for us.
“We know it is going to be a tough game either way but Sunday could free us up.”