Two points clear, with tonight’s game in hand, and eight matches after that.
Most would view failure to win the Premier League title from that point as a missed opportunity, if not an outright failure, but not Claudio Ranieri.
The Leicester manager and his team of underdogs are certainly coming within shouting distance of a remarkable triumph, but the Italian is making sure everyone at the club is keeping their feet on the ground by insisting the main target remains qualification for next season’s Europa League.
With Manchester City already qualified by virtue of their Capital One Cup triumph, the sixth-placed Premier League team will also qualify, while an FA Cup win for Manchester United or West Ham could allow the team finishing seventh in as well.
Sixth-placed United currently sit on 47 points, 13 behind Leicester, meaning only an unprecedented collapse would see the Foxes miss out on Europe entirely, but Ranieri is still content to focus on hitting that target before then looking to a top-four spot and finally the title.
“When we have a five-point lead with less than one match then when the mathematics say ‘yes’, that is it,” he said. “For me the favourites are the others still, of course.
“We have to fight and just at the end we can say: ‘oh we achieved this, we are in Europa League, how fantastic’ or ‘we are in Champions League amazing’.
“The league this year is crazy and everything could happen. Now we are fighting to achieve the Europa League. You imagine Leicester achieve the Europa League and next season we stay in the Europa League? Unbelievable. That is our goal. When we achieve this I look how many matches left.
“Maybe we can achieve Champions League – wow, amazing. Europa League is the next little step. Little targets is the match: Newcastle. After, Crystal Palace, that is our step.”
