Foxes skipper urges focus

Morgan says experience of winning 2nd-tier Championship will aid their title challenge

Leicester City's Wes Morgan (second from left, celebrating his winner against Southampton) believes his side can draw on their winning experiences in the League Championship from two years ago to sustain them over the Premier League title run-in.
Leicester City's Wes Morgan (second from left, celebrating his winner against Southampton) believes his side can draw on their winning experiences in the League Championship from two years ago to sustain them over the Premier League title run-in. PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON • Leicester City captain Wes Morgan is banking on his side's experience of winning the Championship (England's second tier) two years ago to help them negotiate a tricky set of fixtures and end the season as Premier League champions.

The Foxes are closing in on what would be their maiden top-flight title and currently lead the division by seven points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, with only six games left to play.

Morgan, Danny Drinkwater, Kasper Schmeichel, Jamie Vardy, Andy King and Riyad Mahrez were in the side that won the Championship with two games to spare in 2014, and the defender said lessons learnt then would help the Foxes to stay focused.

"The experience of going up from the Championship will help us this time round," the Jamaica international told British media.

"We are approaching it one game at a time, not getting carried away thinking, 'If we win the next three or four games, we've done whatever.'

"That's the way we probably looked at it in the Championship. It's much different this time round. We don't want to get carried away, we want to stay focused."

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  • Premier League leaders Leicester City are going strong, having taken 12 points from identical 1-0 wins in each of their last four matches.

Leicester travel to third-from-bottom Sunderland on Sunday, before playing home games against West Ham United and Swansea City.

They round off the season with a trip to Manchester United followed by a home game against Everton, and then face outgoing champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in their final game.

The Foxes' recent performances give no indication they are feeling the pressure and the team have taken a maximum 12 points from their last four games.

Second-placed Tottenham Hotspur have gained four points fewer over the same period, while both Arsenal in third and Manchester City in fourth place have dropped five points respectively.

Leicester winger Marc Albrighton says the fact that his team are already seen as having over-achieved means they have a degree of immunity from the weight of expectations.

"We are in a position no one expected us to be in," he added. "If we don't go on and achieve something now, then don't get me wrong, we would be disappointed, but if we finished in the lowest position we could finish in if we lost all our games, it would still be a massive achievement and fantastic for us."

Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce is hoping for Leicester to lose their next one. And he has been encouraged by his side's performance against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday even though the Black Cats failed to convert dominance into goals.

The relegation-threatened side registered 15 shots in total and six on target, but were thwarted by the Baggies' goalkeeper Ben Foster.

"It's the best performance we've had since I've been here," said Allardyce. "I want us to beat Leicester next week. Let's go and upset the applecart, hopefully play like this and beat them."

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 06, 2016, with the headline Foxes skipper urges focus. Subscribe