Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is also expected to make several changes from the side that lost 1-0 to Leicester in the Premier League last week but he insisted that does not mean they are not interested in a Cup run.
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Ranieri will hope his Leicester team have bigger fish to fry as they continue their extraordinary Premier League campaign, but it is now one win in seven matches in all competitions.
Ranieri’s second placed side host Stoke on Saturday knowing a victory would put them back on top of the table, at least until current leaders Arsenal face Chelsea 24 hours later.
While Leicester’s recent form has been mixed, with three draws and a loss in its past five matches, the partnership of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez is still capable of wreaking havoc in the opposition’s defense.
“The statistics say there’s no gap between Tottenham, who started 10-15 years ago to build a very good solid building, and Leicester who started this season”.
He did, however, deny prioritising the Premier League over the FA Cup.
Pochettino said: “I was pleased they showed they have the quality and can fight to play”.
“If we find the right profile and we are sure it would help us improve the squad, we’d sign someone, but we are very happy with the squad we have”.
A Premier League statement last night admitted they usually give six weeks’ warning when rearranging matches and in response a section of Leicester supporters are planning to boycott the first five minutes of the match in protest at the late change.
Gokhan Inler took a free-kick, won via the invention of academy product Chilwell, but it was easily fielded by Michel Vorm in the Tottenham goal. After that, you will always have haters and people who don’t like you, but that doesn’t matter to me. When he’s ready we will say. “It’s important, we have 24/25 players in the squad and we have that so we can make changes sometimes”.
“We have some players in a condition where it’s a big risk to play”, he said.
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“So every selection and every game is important because we are Tottenham, and we are in a very difficult period when we need all the players fit and motivated and working hard”.
