Ranieri hails prolific Vardy

Claudio Ranieri praised prolific goalscorer Jamie Vardy as he fired Leicester City to the top of the table with a 3-0 win over Newcastle United.

Vardy equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of netting in 10 consecutive Premier League games when he opened the scoring at St James’ Park, the England international rifling a low shot under Rob Elliot.

He could have added to his 13 goals this season but it mattered little as Leonardo Ulloa and Shinji Okazaki completed a comfortable win.

Ranieri was full of praise for his leading marksman, and backed him to continue his scoring feats.

“I’m pleased for Jamie Vardy to equal the record of a great champion,” he said. “It’s good for him. It’s good for the team.

“When a squad has a striker who scores goals it is good. He is very confident, his team-mates are very confident in him and they believe something can happen when he has the ball.”

It was not only Vardy who came in for praise from the Italian, though, the 64-year-old delighted by the display of his whole side as they climbed above Manchester United to the summit.

He added: “That’s the performance I want. The guys are slowly understanding my philosophy and we play like a team. It’s good to be where we are, now we must continue.”