Leicester City head coach Claudio Ranieri has asked the football club's supporters to dream of winning the English Premier League (EPL) title after their convincing victory over Stoke City.
Leicester thrashed Stoke 3-0 on Saturday thanks to goals by Danny Drinkwater, Jamie Vardy and Leonardo Ulloa. It was their 13th win in 23 EPL matches this season and saw them climb back to the top of the table with 47 points, three more than second-placed Manchester City.
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"For me it's important to let our fans dream. We will lose, but it's important, like against Tottenham in the FA Cup, that we fight to the end. I was so pleased that we were losing 2-0 but Kasper Schmeichel still tried to score a goal - fantastic! I wasn't a big champion when I was a player but my character was very, very strong, and I see the team is like my character," Ranieri was quoted as saying by the English media on Sunday.
The Stoke game had other positives for Leicester as well. The match saw their start striker Vardy return to scoring ways after finding the net for the first time in eight matches. Left-winger Riyad Mahrez also found his touch as the Algerian nutmegged Stoke's Philipp Wollscheid before Ulloa scored Leicester's third.
But Ranieri wants to bolster the squad before the transfer window shuts in a week.
"It's important to have two players for every position. Our strength is to play with high intensity. It's not possible to play with that intensity for all the season. So I would like another striker to give support to the other three," the Italian said.
"Everyone is reinforcing now, taking players because they want to save their season or they want to win something. We want to maintain this position. I know it's difficult, but we must try. This is a strange league. The big teams are not at the top, but there is Leicester -- unbelievable," he added.
Leicester have already brought in Ghana international Daniel Amartey from former Denmark champions FC Copenhagen.
"It's important to have a player who will permit me to change something in the match," RanieriLe said. "He has our spirit. I want to bring in players with our spirit."
