Ranieri always believed a winning goal would come

Leicester City boss Claudio Ranieri insists he always believed a goal would come after substitute Leonardo Ulloa’s last-gasp strike secured a 1-0 win over Norwich City on Saturday.

The victory ensured Leicester move five points clear of closest title rivals Tottenham and Arsenal, who face Swansea City and Manchester United respectively on Sunday, at the top of the Premier league. 

Despite his side struggling to hit the heights of their previous performances, Ranieri never gave up hope that a winner would arrive against Norwich.

“Always I believed because we put this mentality to our players that we must believe until the end,” he said to Sky Sports.

“Against Arsenal we conceded at the end and this time we won the match. I hope to win something but already we have won – we are safe and now we are dreaming. 

“Our fans from the beginning have dreamed but we still have to work very hard in every match and this game is an example.

“Ulloa is a fantastic player. This season he didn’t play a lot but when he does, he has played fantastic. We believe that it will be a very important thing, to restart after the Arsenal defeat and to get three points.

“If the other teams start to win, they can win all the matches. But for us, the next match is always the final match. That is our mentality.”

The win was also Leicester’s fifth consecutive Premier League clean sheet at home and Ranieri discussed the importance of his team’s solidity in defence.

“It is very, very important to be patient, solid and maintain the clean sheet and then you can win at the end of the match,” he said.

“We knew that it would be hard from the beginning. It was a difficult match – Norwich played very, very compact in a defensive way. Norwich played well and closed the space.

“Then in the last 20 minutes it was open with counter-attacks for us and them. We can score, they can score and finally we scored a goal.

“I said before Arsenal that this match would be harder. I was so worried because after two weeks, your players can lose their tempo, but now I am very relaxed.

“Now I start to think about the West Brom match. It is a derby and a very, very, very tough match.”