Claudio Ranieri says Tottenham are Premier League title favourites

29 February 2016 23:53

Claudio Ranieri has named Tottenham as title favourites as the Leicester boss moves to ease the pressure off his side.

The Foxes are two points clear of Spurs in the Barclays Premier League and host West Brom on Tuesday with their rivals facing West Ham on Wednesday.

Tottenham's 2-1 comeback win over Swansea on Sunday kept the pressure on Leicester, who beat Norwich 1-0 on Saturday, but Ranieri believes Mauricio Pochettino's men are frontrunners.

He said: "Tottenham, in my opinion, are favourites then Arsenal, Manchester City.

"Tottenham are strong in every situation. When they defend and when they attack they know what they want. Everyone is speaking about Leicester but nobody is speaking about Tottenham.

"We are the surprise, that is fantastic, a good energy, but if we are realistic the real competitors are City, Arsenal and Tottenham.

"Our job is done, we wanted to be safe and now there is something new. You can achieve something new if you think match-by-match.

"Now we are focused on West Brom, we know we can win, lose or draw but it's not important what the other teams do."

Ranieri, without N'Golo Kante who is sidelined with a hamstring injury, has still refused to talk about Leicester's title chances despite the Foxes losing just three times this season.

And he insisted his squad are not speaking about their shock assault on the Premier League although feels they must learn to handle the extra pressure.

He added: "We don't think about it, we are thinking about what we are doing well and badly. We try to improve what was bad from the last match.

"I don't ban (any title talk). They must grow up with the pressure, that is good, but for us it's not important to win the title. It's important to improve our performance match after match."

Source: PA