Ranieri praises Leicester's telepathic teamwork

Claudio Ranieri celebrated the synergy of his Leicester City team after Jamie Vardy scored twice to see off Liverpool 2-0 and ensure the Foxes stay top of the Premier League.

Vardy's first of the evening, a sensational 30-yard volley, came at the end of a fabulous pass by Riyad Mahrez – just one of a number of passages of play which left Ranieri gushing with praise for the hosts after the game.

Leicester lead Manchester City by three points going into Saturday's clash between the top two at the Etihad Stadium and, as he stressed that his side are playing well by having fun, Ranieri oozed confidence.

"How Riyad Mahrez passed the ball to Vardy, and Vardy has time to look and see the goalkeeper out of the goal, is unbelievable," the Italian told Sky Sports.

"Everybody understands the movement before they are doing the movement.

"Now we are enjoying when we play. It's not important if we lose because we are doing it our way. Anything could happen. We want to continue to fight until the end.

"It's a great performance. We suffered just at the beginning of the second half when they had a great chance to score.

"In the second half we created other good chances and it's good. I'm very pleased with my players because we pressed a lot against a team who press very well.

"We wanted to win tonight and it's fantastic."

The Foxes were 5,000-1 rank outsiders for the title in August but are now 10 points clear of fifth place and very much contenders for top spot, not that Ranieri is getting carried away.

"We have to take it step by step," he said. "Now there is a fantastic match in Manchester and it's important for us to recover our energy."