Ranieri: The Fans Pushed Us

- Leonardo Ulloa’s late goal gave the Foxes all three points at King Power Stadium 

- The victory send Ranieri’s team temporarily five points clear at the top of the table 

- Next up for City is another home clash with West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday night 

Having left it late to secure a win to send Leicester City five points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League, Claudio Ranieri was quick to pay tribute to the Blue Army. 

Leonardo Ulloa’s goal just a minute from full time handed the Foxes a 1-0 victory over Norwich City at King Power Stadium, but in a scrappy match, the manager felt it was the backing from the fans that helped get his team over the line. 

The Argentine converted Marc Albrighton’s cross at the far post to send the Leicester City fans into euphoria at the end – scenes in stark contrast to the last gasp defeat to Arsenal in the Foxes’ last outing. 

Afterwards, the manager was understandably delighted with the win, which they had to work hard for against a highly organised Canaries outfit who had arguably the better of the chances in the first half. 

“I’m very, very happy because the first match after the defeat to Arsenal is very, very important,” Ranieri told Foxes Player HD. “It was important to win to restart our run. 

“It was a difficult match and I say thank you to our fans because our fans pushed us. They understood our difficulties but they always pushed behind us. I think we deserved to win and I’m very, very happy.”

Ranieri was delighted for his goalscorer too, having come off the bench to grab the winner, but insisted that it didn’t matter who scored, as long as the team won. 

He added: “Ulloa is happy but everyone is happy. When one man scores a goal, all Leicester City Football Club are happy. 

“The goal was fantastic. We got the ball in our half and straight away we passed the ball to Riyad [Mahrez]. He went one on one and [Marc] Albrighton was wide. 

“We tried this because I wanted to spread out their defensive line with [Jeffrey] Schlupp on the left and Albrighton on the right, and with another striker close to Jamie Vardy and Mahrez behind. It was a good solution and we scored a goal. 

“Football is strange. We conceded a goal in the last second at Arsenal and now we won the match in the last minute. That is amazing and we want to continue to fight and have our fans continue to dream. We work and they dream.” 

Aside from the victory, there were plenty more positives to take for Ranieri, who saw Daniel Amartey make his debut and the return of Jeffrey Schlupp from a hamstring injury in the second half. However N’Golo Kante was withdrawn late on as a precaution. 

“He (Amartey) played very well, very solid and concentrated and also Schlupp came back after a month and played very, very well,” said Ranieri. 

“He (Kante) had just a little pain in his hamstring and tomorrow we will check. 

“Now I’m already thinking about the next match. It’s a derby against West Bromwich and it will be another tough match.”