Leicester City vs AFC Bournemouth - Claudio Ranieri sets new Leicester points total

Posted Friday, January 01, 2016 by PA

Claudio Ranieri has challenged Leicester to pick up even more points in the second half of the season than they managed in the first, but still refused to talk about winning the title.

The Foxes are second in the Barclays Premier League and are just a point away from Ranieri's pre-season target.

The Italian wanted 40 points to guarantee survival and victory at home to Bournemouth on Saturday would see them past that mark.

Ranieri admitted he did not expect to reach his goal so soon but now wants his men to eclipse it in the second half of the season.

He said: "We'll try to do the same - as we've achieved 39 points then we'd like to achieve 40 points - one point more. I will be satisfied.

"Nobody can take our 39 points and we want to improve. We have a job to do because we make a lot of mistakes and we have to improve a lot.

"A success is maintaining the Premier League (status) but it is how we achieve the next 39 points."

Leicester are behind Arsenal on goal difference after Tuesday's 0-0 draw with Manchester City and have only lost twice in the league this season following Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Liverpool.

But Ranieri, who is set to pick from an unchanged squad, dismissed any further talk about a title tilt.

He said: "You would love it if I said 'we are champions'. No, I say 'we want to beat Bournemouth'.

"At the beginning of last season we were only talking about relegation, this season it's top of the league. It's important to maintain the right balance.

"We can say 'start to win the title' but it's not our job, our job is to win the next match. The other (clubs') jobs are to win the title. We have to fight for the next match and we want to win. That's our philosophy."

Ranieri could name an unchanged squad for the visit of Bournemouth on Saturday.

The Foxes chief has reported no fresh injury worries following Tuesday's 0-0 draw with Manchester City while striker Jamie Vardy has fully recovered from a virus which he has suffered from over the last week.

Jeff Schlupp remains out with a hamstring injury and midfielder Matty James continues to recover from a long-term knee injury, which has sidelined him all season, but is not yet match fit.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe hopes a few days well-earned rest will help his squad freshen up for the challenges ahead in 2016.

The Cherries head to Leicester for their opening Barclays Premier League fixture of the new year looking to recover from the 2-0 defeat at Arsenal on Monday night, which brought to an end a run of six unbeaten matches.

Following the hectic festive schedule, Howe has made the most of five days between matches with a progressive fitness programme designed to give the players maximum recovery time before they run out at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.

"We haven't trained since Arsenal, not the lads that played, anyway. With the fixture work load we really had to protect our players this week to make sure we go into the Leicester game with some energy, so we are toning down training," said Howe, reporting no fresh injury problems.

"The general feeling is that you want to work all the time, but you have to be well aware of the physical exhaustion those two games in three days had on our players, it was an incredible physical effort.

"They were two really tough fixtures (over Christmas), so this is about making sure we can go into the Leicester game and perform, and the only way to do that is to recover properly."

Despite the disappointment of not being able to add to their three straight wins with a goalless draw at Crystal Palace on Boxing Day before a defeat to the table-topping Gunners, Howe sees no reason why the Cherries should not head into 2016 with a positive mindset.

"It (recent results) has given everyone a nice boost at a key time of year, but it's nothing we did not feel internally was not coming or was overdue, so I would not say it has been anything more than we have deserved," Howe said at a press conference.

"Now we enter a key run of fixtures in January and we need to make sure we hit the ground running."

Forward Lee Tomlin was an unused substitute against the Gunners following his return from a groin and pelvic injury so could feature, while the likes of Glenn Murray and Junior Stanislas are also options should Howe look to make changes.