Ranieri: Vardy has not trained for a month

Despite Vardy’s determination to play, Ranieri is mindful of the number of injuries the striker has suffered and has stated that he will be keeping a close eye on the fitness of his star player who leads the league’s scoring charts on 15 along with Everton’s Romelu Lukau. “The match is like a training session for him”, Ranieri said. As for Manchester City they sit only three points behind the leaders and will have a chance to put pressure by playing earlier than their two rivals against Crystal Palace.

“But we want to have them say ‘yes, now, Leicester are fighting for the top four’. I am really, really happy”. “It might be something to look at but I don’t think it’s a problem for us”.

Vertonghen also claims Tottenham need to wise up on corners and free kicks after complaining that Leicester block players off at set pieces.

“It is frightful to see where they are and I would love nothing more than them to escape it. I know it is not looking great for them, it is looking quite bleak, I’d love them to escape it but obviously after Saturday is out of the way”.

Ahead of the weekend’s trip to Aston Villa, Ranieri said of Vardy: “He should be fit when he arrives there, slowly he will get better”. It’s not easy to go to Tottenham and win but now it’s important how we change the mind. They were as if we had lost the match.

“We drew 2-2 in the FA Cup at Tottenham on Sunday with goals from (Marcin) Wasilewski and (Shinji) Okazaki and, tonight, it was Huth”.

Remi Garde’s side picked up just their second win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Tuesday night but they are still eight points from safety at the bottom of the division.

“Maybe sooner or later we will slow down, but now it’s fantastic and now our fans are dreaming”.

“It is a good challenge for us as well because they have to maintain their record and we can show we have taken a big step forward and can beat them”.