Foxes duo told to raise game
EPL champions visit fellow strugglers Swansea on the back of four successive league losses
>> LONDON: Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri wants Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to rediscover their form from the club’s title-winning season as the champions battle to remain in the Premier League.
Vardy scored 24 goals and Mahrez 17 as Leicester surged to the title last season, but they have contributed only five and three goals respectively this term.
With the champions just a point above the relegation zone ahead of today’s trip to fellow strugglers Swansea City, Ranieri has held talks with the pair in a bid to get them firing again.
“I have spoken with Riyad and I have spoken with Jamie and we know,” Ranieri told a pre-match press conference at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on Friday.
“They link together well. If you see how many goals they scored and how many passes they made last season, but this time no.
“I say to Riyad: ‘Come back to last season, come back.’ He is trying and he is positive and I am very happy when he is positive.
“I look at him smiling and that is OK. He is very important and now he is very concentrated on the last part of the season. I am very hopeful.
“Jamie works hard for the team, but this season we have scored very few goals and scoring three goals in one match [against Derby County in the FA Cup on Wednesday] was amazing and I hope this is good for the future.”
Leicester have lost their last four league games without scoring and risk becoming England’s first defending champions to be relegated since Manchester City in 1938.
Ranieri will not consider Leonardo Ulloa for selection for the meeting with Swansea City, but has suggested that the outcast striker could yet return to his team.
Ulloa, who has not played for the east Midlands club since the FA Cup third round win at Everton, threatened to go on strike and claimed that Ranieri had let him down by rejecting an offer for his services from Sunderland.
The former Brighton and Hove Albion striker tweeted: “I feel betrayed by Ranieri and let down by the club. I will not play again for them,” and claimed he had been told that if an offer of £4-5 million was made, the club would accept it.
Ranieri ruled Ulloa out of contention for today’s game, but suggested that he may yet be called upon later in the season.
“Leo is not yet [in contention] but [is getting better] slowly, slowly,” he said. “All my players must be ready because, sooner or later, I will need them.”
Ranieri confirmed there are no new injury concerns ahead of the trip but also admitted he is yet to decide who to play.
“I need to think about what is the best 11 for us because it is an important battle,” he said. “[This is] a very tough match for us.”