Vardy enjoys Leicester remaining as underdogs

Jamie Vardy is happy for Leicester City to be considered underdogs once again ahead of the 2016-17 season.

A sensational campaign ended with Leicester, who narrowly escaped relegation a year prior, claiming a first top-flight title with a 10-point advantage over second-placed Arsenal in May.

Despite being defending champions and having retained Vardy’s services with a new contract, Claudio Ranieri’s team are not expected to repeat the feat.

However, the England international believes Leicester can continue to flourish under such circumstances and, with a first Champions League campaign approaching, expects them to continue growing.

Vardy told reporters: “I feel the club is still going up. It’s like one of those fairground rides, the volcano ones where you sit in a chair and just go ‘whoosh!’ That’s what the owners want as well, and so does the boss.

“There is forward momentum with the club and unfinished business in terms of what we can achieve.

“We weren’t supposed to win the league. Some say it was lucky that we won but I don’t think you can be lucky over 38 games. To lose just four games in 47 games is not bad going.

“We’re not supposed to win anything. We’re only little Leicester, as everyone says. People still say it now. No-one has given us a chance again so we might as well enjoy it because that is what gets us the performances.”

The 2015-16 Premier League season was all the more memorable for Vardy as he scored in a record 11 successive matches.

Such success has drastically changed the 29-year-old’s life, making him more inclined to stay at home than go out and potentially be recognised.

“It is carnage. I basically can’t go out at the minute and I don’t leave my house,” said a laughing Vardy.

“It was alright-ish before but now it doesn’t matter where you go. It changed after breaking the record, when I scored 11 league goals in a row.

“Now I prefer to stay at home and spend more time with the kids and on my computer, time with my wife. I’m still pinching myself all the time at how the last few years have gone.”