Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Ranieri: Champs Leicester must stay calm in relegation battle

Sunderland v Leicester City - Premier League

SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 03: Claudio Ranieri manager of Leicester City reacts as David Moyes manager of Sunderland looks on during the Premier League match between Sunderland and Leicester City at Stadium of Light on December 3, 2016 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Leicester City in the Champions League? Pretty darn good.

Leicester City in the Premier League? Pretty darn poor.

Claudio Ranieri is scratching his head after Leicester remains winless in PL matches leading up to a Champions League week, falling 2-1 to relegation-battling Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

[ MATCH RECAP: Sunderland 2-1 Leicester City ]

Whereas last year the Foxes seemed to catch plenty of breaks, Ranieri saw an own goal and countless bad passes drop his team to within two points of the bottom three.

From the BBC:

“This moment is not the right moment for us. We wanted to get points here but of course it was a relegation battle, they won, well done to them. They started stronger than us in the first ten minutes. Both teams wanted to win. They scored with our own goal.

“I said two, three weeks ago, always I look behind me. We are in the battle of relegation. For this reason we must stay calm, together and continue to work hard.”


Right now, the chances of the champs going down seem possible. Week after week we’ve been waiting for the Foxes to snap out of their season-long PL funk, but Leicester keeps giving away points to traditionally bottom-half sides.

In its last four, Leicester now has losses to Sunderland, West Brom, and Watford, plus a draw with Middlesbrough. Woof!

In the UCL, Leicester are through to the knockout rounds before Wednesday’s visit to Porto. Next up in the PL: Man City, Bournemouth, Stoke City.

Follow @NicholasMendola