Chillwell: Leicester here to stay at the top
Southampton: Substitute Nicolas Pepe rescued Arsenal with two sublime free-kicks in tLeicester City defender Ben Chilwell said the Foxes are “here to stay at the top of the league” after they thrashed Southampton 9-0 to move up to second in the Premier League. Jamie Vardy’s injury-time penalty saw Brendan Rodgers’ side match Manchester United’s 24-year-old record for the biggest ever win in the competition. Leicester move a point above Manchester City and five behind leaders Liverpool. “Everyone in the league is waiting for Leicester City to slip,” said Chilwell.
“It’s nice to be at the top of the table, we really do want to stay there and there is confidence within the dressing room that we can stay there,” he told Sky Sports.
Leicester, shock title winners in 2015-16, finished ninth last season following Rodgers’ appointment in March. The improvement shown under the former Celtic boss convinced many that the Foxes were the side capable of breaking into the top four this campaign.
Their electric start, accompanied by mixed performances from some of the so-called ‘bigsix’ sides, has only served to reinforce that view.
Chilwell added: “We push each other hard in training, the gaffer doesn’t let our standards slip. It’s a really good squad and we just need to keep progressing.
“We’re here and we’re here to stay at the top of the league. We just need to keep working hard.”
Only Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola can boast more Premier League points than Rodgers since his first game in charge on March3 . The Northern Irishman - who took Liverpool to within two points of the Premier League title in 2014 - has won 11 of his 20 league games in charge, while Guardiola’s reigning champions have claimed 15 victories in that time. The Foxes, who have accumulated 20 points from their opening 10 games this season, have one point more than at the same stage of their title-winning campaign, and Rodgers said his free-scoring side had made him “proud”. “I’m very pleased to see our work rate, we scored some great goals and we were very hungry tonight,” Rodgers told BBC Sport.
“It was horrible weather but our focus was outstanding. I’m very pleased with how we defended and we were ruthless. I’m very proud to stand and be the manager of that team.
“We wanted to get the ball back quickly and attack again. A mark of any good side is you don’t let up. We wanted to show we’re a good side and we certainly did that in the second half.”