Drinkwater acknowledges Foxes are making life hard for themselves

20 September 2015 12:01

Leicester midfielder Danny Drinkwater feels the Foxes are "flying" but admits it would be good if they did not have to keep proving themselves comeback kings.

The 2-2 draw at Stoke on Saturday maintained Leicester's unbeaten start to the season and was the fourth straight Barclays Premier League game in which they have salvaged something after falling behind.

Indeed, it was the second successive match where they have bounced back from 2-0 down, having also done so to beat Aston Villa 3-2 the previous weekend.

And Drinkwater - who won the penalty from which Leicester scored their first goal - told Foxes Player: "It is crazy, isn't it? We can't quite put our fingers on it.

"We were definitely annoyed at half-time about the two goals and we wanted to make amends.

"The momentum is flying and we just need to keep doing it - although it would be a lot easier if we didn't concede so many goals and keep having to come back."

Leicester, still yet to register their first clean sheet this term and unable on Saturday to test boss Claudio Ranieri's pre-match promise of a pizza reward for securing it, were behind in the 13th minute as Bojan Krkic slotted in.

Their sloppy defending was then punished seven minutes later by Jonathan Walters' finish.

But they subsequently claimed a point through Riyad Mahrez's 51st-minute penalty and a strike from fellow in-form forward Jamie Vardy in the 69th minute - the pair's fifth and fourth goals of the season respectively.

Stoke boss Mark Hughes, whose 18th-placed side remain winless in the league this term, was critical afterwards both of his players and the match officials.

But he was keen to pay tribute to his goalscorers, both of whom had made returns to the team.

Bojan's goal marked his first league start since sustaining a serious knee injury in January.

Walters, meanwhile, was returning to the matchday 18 for the first time since the end of the transfer window, when bids for him from Norwich - and a transfer request he reportedly handed in - were rejected amid troubled talks over extending his Stoke contract, which runs out next summer.

Hughes said: "I thought Bojan showed that guile and craft that we'll need for the season.

"I also thought Jon was excellent, and he is a great professional. There was a situation that developed in the window, but it has closed now, that opportunity has gone for Jon and he just needed to get his head down and concentrate on the football.

"I had a conversation with him to that end and that is exactly what he has done.

"Jon wants an extra year and it is well documented at the moment that that is not on the table.

"But I think it is important he just concentrates on playing, which I'm sure he'll do."

Source: PA