Jose Mourinho’s men did bounce back with a 2-0 win over Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday night to ensure that they qualified for the last 16 as group winners.
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“Leicester deserve to be in the league position they are in”, he added in quotes shared by Chelsea’s Twitter account.
Ranieri said Thursday that he believed Chelsea would still finish in the top four, despite a awful start to the season that sees the reigning champions in 14th place – 17 points behind Leicester and only two above the relegation zone. “While it is mathematically possibly, we have to try”.
I told a couple of weeks ago I don’t believe they can be champions.
When asked on Friday if Chelsea, now 14th, could finish as high as fourth during his press conference ahead of Monday’s visit to leaders Leicester, the Blues manager said: “Before we lost the last three points against Bournemouth, I was convinced of fourth, of a great December for us”.
He said: “They deserve to be where they are”. It would be something magnificent, something to impress the football world. “I think Ranieri is showing he has that nice feeling for the club, but I also believe in what he says”.
“They are there because they are doing well”. And every club is miles away from what Leicester is doing.
“Who knows? We could get a run of four or five consecutive victories and because nobody is doing that from the top clubs, maybe we have a chance to shorten distances and to dream of a great finish and to finish fourth”. I think he should win manager of the half-term.
November saw Vardy net in all three of Leicester’s games – his opener in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United setting a new Premier League record of scoring in 11 consecutive matches.
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“But the home side have “only” drawn at home to other big clubs such as Man United and Tottenham, as well as losing to Arsenal, so I think 1-1 is probably the sensible play here”.
