Thursday 11 August 2016 18:59, UK
Claudio Ranieri has joked that there is more chance of E.T. landing in Piccadilly Circus than Leicester retaining their Premier League title.
Last season, the Italian masterminded Leicester's surprising rise from relegation candidates and 5000/1 outsiders for the title to Premier League champions.
Ranieri has since managed to keep the vast majority of his title winning squad together, with defensive midfielder N'Golo Kante the only big name to leave Leicester during the summer.
Despite this, the Leicester manager believes his side's first target should once again be 40 points and also insisted they should be ranked as 6,000/1 to repeat last season's feat.
"I'm very curious about this season. The big teams are ready to fight for the title and we are ready to defend it," Ranieri said.
"Our target is again 40 points and then to see what happens. Also to make a good experience in the Champions League.
"I think now we have less pressure than last season. Everything is different. We have to be clever to repeat it. It's 6000/1. It's more likely E.T. will land in Piccadilly Circus."
Leicester begin their title defence against newly-promoted Hull at the KCOM Stadium on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 11.30am.
Hull have endured a difficult summer, failing to add to their squad since earning promotion back to the Premier League in May and also losing manager Steve Bruce, with Mike Phelan currently in temporary control.
But Ranieri said: "Hull City will want to show their best but we're very concentrated now and we want to play our game.
"We're building and slowly getting better. It's important to forget last season and build our squad."
