Leicester's Riyad Mahrez insists title chasers are under no pressure
Friday 11 March 2016 08:40, UK
Leicester forward Riyad Mahrez has insisted the team are under no pressure as they chase a first top-flight title in the club's 132-year history.
The Algeria international had not expected at the start of the season that, with nine games to go, the Foxes would be looking down from the top of the Premier League, with a five-point advantage over the following pack.
But he claimed the pressure was far less than at the same point in the 2014/15 term, when they were bottom of the table and needed seven wins from their last nine games to escape the drop.
And as he nears the end of a remarkable season - which has seen him score 15 league goals and strongly tipped to be crowned PFA Player of the Year - he brushed off suggestions he was looking for an exit.
"I'm not thinking about that," he said. "The last games we need to keep working hard and see what we can do. I'm really not thinking about this. I have three more years in Leicester and then we'll see."
The 25-year-old admitted he did not start the 2015/16 campaign anticipating Leicester would be top of the table in March.
"I wasn't expecting that, but that's now the reality," he said. "I'm happy to be here. I'm pleased."
On any jitters the leaders may be feeling for the run-in, he said: "No pressure. We are playing as always. We just work hard for everyone. We are just a good team, good team-mates and we are doing well. We have to keep going."
Mahrez was speaking as he visited the Houses of Parliament to accept a Sportsman of the Year prize as part of the Political and Public Life Awards, voted for by readers of Asian Voice magazine.
He told Sky Sports News HQ: "People think we have pressure, but we are just like normal. We have always been like that and we stay like that, like a normal team.
"Now everyone starts talking about us, and that's normal of course because we are doing very well, but we have to keep going. No pressure, just a bonus. You're in a good team, you have to enjoy."
He left no doubt that he felt there was less pressure at the top of the table than the bottom.
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"Last year was very difficult," he said. "Last year we had pressure.
"Last year gave us more experience and we are now in a different situation - we are playing for the title. It's something crazy, but that's the reality. You have to enjoy it."
In other news at Leicester, boss Claudio Ranieri wants the contracts extended for assistants Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh, the much-trumpeted head of recruitment credited for identifying and signing Mahrez, N'Golo Kante and Jamie Vardy.
"It is very important to keep them," Ranieri said. "I ask them to sign the same as my contract [until 2018] because I have a very good relationship with all my staff. I would prefer it everybody is happy with me, their contract, everything.
"Yes, the sooner they can sign, the happier they are and the sooner we can continue to grow up."
