Ranieri: The big six want to kill Leicester

Leicester City might have made history last time out when they claimed their maiden Premier League title in the most spectacular of seasons, but Claudio Ranieri said last season is just that. History.

Ranieri and Co. finished 10 points clear of Arsenal to complete one of the greatest achievements in sporting history.

And having now tasted Premier League glory, Ranieri is hungry for more.

“I was satisfied,” he said ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield clash with Manchester United. “But now I am hungry. I want to eat something.”

“I said: ‘I know you very well now. Forget what we have achieved; I want more,'” he said.

“You can’t tell me: ‘This is my maximum.’ I want more than the maximum of last season.”

But Ranieri knows he is not the only one who is hungry.

Leicester might have been the hunters in 2015-16, but this year they are the hunted and Ranieri knows there are six big, hungry teams in United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham looking to make Premier League glory their own.

“Now there are six big teams who want to win, they want to kill us,” Ranieri said.

“That is normal. We are the champions but we are still the underdogs. But I don’t want my players to ever give up against them. We can lose but I want to see them playing together as a team, helping each other. Suffer for your team-mates, that is my philosophy. Last season we did something that is hard to repeat. We know that very well but I want the maximum from everybody.”